Prologue

Death. It is the inevitable end of every living thing. Sometimes it's natural and other times it's not. But there is one thing a lot of people want to know.

After death...what next?

It's a mystery that remains unsolved. Some people fear death while other embrace it. A lot of people die early due to circumstances. Some leave a lot of loved ones behind and the others have nothing left to lose.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was darkness everywhere. Nothing could be seen in this empty void except one thing.

A small ball of light. The ball, although small, radiated enough light to illuminate a few meters radius.

'Where am I?' A young voice came out from the glowing ball.

'I can't feel my body. What the hell is this?' Confusion and curiosity radiated out of the glowing orb but strangely there was no hint of fear.

"Interesting..." an echoey voice said with a chuckle. The orb, knowing that it was useless to fumble around to search for the voice, spoke up.

'Who are you? Where are we?' His voice remained calm.

"We are in what you call the void. The dark emptiness. The places in between life and death. As for who I am...I'm sure you have an idea." The voice replied, somewhat amused.

A faint feeling of realization and a few moments later, acceptance could be felt from the orb. They were both silent for a moment as the mysterious voice allowed the orb to digest what is happening.

The orb remembered what happened before he appeared here, not that it was much to remember. He was an orphan who struggled to survive. There weren't enough orphanages so he had to be cut loose.

The feeling of friendship or even a concept such as love was foreign to him. For as long as he lived, he fought to see the next day. Although he was a homeless orphan, he had one thing going for him. He was smart.

He had taught himself how to read and write. He had read a lot of books from a public library to satiate his brilliant mind. An opportunity made itself known in the form of a local academic competition in which the prize was a scholarship to high school.

He didn't need much motivation to quickly apply to participate, ignoring the looks and comments he received seeing as how he wore rags. He won by a significant margin which was more than enough to thoroughly convince them to award him the scholarship.

His first time attending an academic institute was at the age of twelve. He was given a paid apartment with the bare minimum needed to survive. It was during his second year he was introduced to what people call 'anime'.

He became very enthralled with it. It was his form of relief after so many years of struggle. At age sixteen, the day before he would graduate from high school, he watched a few episodes of anime before taking a quick nap.

At least it was supposed to be a quick nap. Now he ended up here...in the void.

'So, what happens now?' The orb inquired, now having come to terms with its current situation.

"You're a strange one. Normally you would be sent to the afterlife immediately after death but..." the voice started.

'But...?' The orb urged.

"Your soul is rejecting the cross." The voice finished grimly.

'What do you mean by that?' The orb asked confused.

"Your soul is actively refusing to cross over to the afterlife. Trying to force it into doing so against its will would destroy your soul." The voice answered.

There was silence for a while as a tiny and very brief feeling of fear from the orb before it quickly disappeared.

'So what are you going to do with me?' The orb asked.

"I could leave you here for a few millennia, maybe by then your soul would be weakened enough for me to safely push it into the afterlife..." The voice answered with a nonchalant tone. Tense silence filled the void. If the orb had eyes, they would be narrowed right now.

"...or we could try something new." The voice said after a few seconds.

'Like what?' The orb asked curiously.

"Rebirth." It answered shortly. The orb grew confused.

'Rebirth?'

"Yes, Rebirth. You would be reborn in a new and very different world." The voice reaffirmed.

"It would be a hassle to create new worlds so you'll be reborn in one of those things you call 'anime'"

The feeling of shock from the orb was palpable. This was all moving too drastically.

'Anime worlds...' he echoed absentmindedly.

"Yes. Although I'll be the one picking the world, whatever you go with will be up to you." The voice said, a bit playfully.

'How would I choose what I'm reborn with?' The orb asked.

"I'm getting to that part." The amused voice said.

"But first, what do you think of when you hear the word power?"

'Power? You're talking in circles here. What does that have to do with anything.' The orb asked.

"Oh but it has everything to do with it. When I asked you that question, an automatic answer came to your mind. That answer is what decides what you take with you." The voice explained.

As he spoke, fragments of light appeared in the void, slowly taking an image.

"You see, if the first answer the came to your mind was an item, then that would be what you would go with. On the other hand, if it was a person then it becomes interesting." It continued. The fragments of light finally completed forming its image.

"And this is what you chose."

The image revealed itself to be a boy of about seventeen years old. He had black hair that hung low with two bangs by the side of his face, framing his handsome face. What really stood out about him were his eyes. The left was a glowing purple and the right was an ominous red. Above the image was a text; Uchiha Sasuke.

"You really lucked out. You will be reborn with the power of the sharingan and you will bear some physical resemblance to Sasuk-" the voice was interrupted by the orb speaking.

'No. I don't want the sharingan.' The orb said somewhat detachedly.

"Why not. You could say it's overpowered. Why wouldn't you want such a power. " the voice asked, genuinely curious.

'As powerful as the sharingan is, I'll go blind when I awaken the mangekyo. It's just not worth it.' The orb explained.

The voice was in thought for a moment before it spoke again.

"And what if we change that..." the voice said mysteriously. Before the orb could react, a violent vortex formed behind it, and with it a powerful suction threatening to pull it in.

"Let's see how much you can entertain me. After all, the world you're going to is a bit different than what you remember." Those were the last words the orb heard before disappearing as it was completely sucked into the vortex.