Never Going Back

Staring up at the sky I take a deep breath in through my nose and out through my mouth while reaching for the knife in my chest, gripping it tightly yelling as I rip it out. I am dying and not just from the knife wound but from the four other bullet holes littering my body. The knife was just causing discomfort and if I'm going to die I'm at least going to die comfortably. Ignoring the gunshots echoing in the forest I shut my eyes preparing myself for the afterlife. I don't know what's coming after this. I was never religious so I hope I'm not going to open my eyes and be in a fiery world to pay for all the lives I've ruined and taken from this world. My brother and I would often talk about what we might see after we died. He believed that life was never-ending and our souls would merely find a new vessel to inhabit but I called bullshit.

As much as I loved living I would hate for there to be a consistent cycle of life at some point I would like to find peace. Feeling dizziness come over me I sigh letting myself drift into an unavoidable sleep. Whatever comes next I'm about to find out.

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Gasping for air I open my eyes expecting to hear the beeping of the heart monitor and smell the potent air of the hospital. I instead hear the chirping of birds and smell the crisp outdoors. Grunting I sit up looking at my new surroundings in fascination, my attention immediately going to my wounds and the lack thereof. Patting my body I feel no pain and lifting my torn black shirt all I see is added scars to my body.

"It's cool isn't it?" I hear a familiar voice say, making me turn my eyes widening as I stare at my younger brother Jon, alive and healthy, looking the same as he did when he was fifteen.

"J-Jon?" I question in disbelief standing from my spot.

"The one and only." He says in the same arrogant voice he always used walking forward embracing me in a hug. "Welcome to the spirit world Brian I have to say you lived longer than I thought you would. I've been planning for your death." Jon says, making me grasp his shoulders holding him back slightly as I examine him. He's exactly as I remember him with the same blonde hair, blue eyes, athletic build, the only thing that's missing is the bullet hole in his head.

"You've been waiting for my death for ten years?" I ask with a laugh my grin stretching across my face. "Obsessive much?" Slapping his shoulder I sit down looking across the forest in fascination. This is the afterlife, it's underwhelming.

"Don't flatter yourself, you weren't my first priority. I had to live my second, third, fourth, fifth, and six lives and when I sensed your death I decided to come to greet you and give you a welcome package." Jon says with a smirk sitting next to me as I give him a wide-eyed stare.

"Six lives, care to expand?" I ask with a chuckle noticing the two moons in the sky.

"I'll keep this short because your spirit will move on from here soon enough. To start things off I was right, after death came reincarnation and after four reincarnations I've become a god." Jon says with a smile holding out his hand a golden apple forming from nothing.

"Wow," I mutter softly in fascination reaching out to pick up the heavy fruit. "What does that mean for me?" I ask my gaze shifting to his proud stare.

"Well if it was up to me I'd give you omnipotence as well but I can't so instead I'm controlling your rebirth and I can give you a single wish," Jon says with a smile as I lay back on the soft grass handing him his apple back.

"Only one, in which life did you become so stingy?" A new life with a single wish, I'm happy. I was expecting some sort of hell but instead, I find out my brother is a god and I get another life with a wish which means that I'll be able to live by my principles, the strong take from the weak.

"I'm not being stingy, I'm saving your life," Jon says with a chuckle. "You see the old body that you had was temporary but your soul is forever. Your soul is like a muscle the more you use it the stronger it becomes and if I were to give your next body a power too strong for your soul to absorb it would be lost in your third life. I'll be imprinting the wish onto your soul to make sure that it goes into all your future lives. If we flood your soul with wishes as it were now it would burst from the power overflow so we have to gradually give you more power until you become a God like me." Jon says with a smirk while clapping his hands. "Now your wish, if we don't finish up soon the spirit world will put you in some random baby and you might just waste a lifetime and if you kill yourself that ends all future rebirths so never do that."

"Alright well if it's a power that will be with me forever I want the power of creation," I say with a sigh. I am going to be reincarnating for a long time and to live a good life in each of those lives having the power to create anything will help a great deal.

"Always the ambitious one brother but that power will crush your soul. If you're going to choose any wish I'd choose a wish that will change your soul and make it stronger. Any mythical creature will give you a stronger soul and you'll also gain the ability to turn into them and use their powers but at the end of the day it's your wish." Jon says with the same smirk taking a bite out of the golden apple.

"Fine then make my soul the soul of a phoenix dragon." A Phoenix Dragon is just as it sounds a Phoenix mixed with a Dragon and it has tremendous power Jon used to write about them and talk about how much power they have.

"Now that's a good wish I'll change it when I put you in the new world. Now let me explain the final part of this: after every life, you live the powers you gain will be imprinted onto your soul and be transferred over to your next life so try to learn as much as you can. More than one soul may be transferred into the same world at once so you may have to deal with other powerful souls. Other than that, have a good second life in the Naruto Verse, and remember to learn as much as you can so you can gain more power. I'd tell you more but your soul is about to be torn apart in the spirit world so good luck!" In a blur of speed, my brother taps my forehead sending me into a deep sleep.

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Shifting my body so my legs are pointed towards the light in the dark confines of the womb I feel the walls around me push once more putting me closer to the light as leaving behind my first nine months of consciousness. That bastard didn't tell me that I was going to have to be in the womb for nine months, but that's all over now I am being born.

I always loved the show Naruto, Jon and I would always watch it together when we were little. I would even occasionally rewatch it later in life but I would never want to go here if I was a normal human but I am no longer normal. This is my second life and after nine months in the womb, I've decided that I am going to be following my brother's footsteps in becoming a god and for that I have to learn as much as I can about chakra.

Not only that but Jon told me that there could be other souls in this world so that means I could have fodder to take care of. As much as I would love to make friends I don't want to share this world it could complicate my plans. I can worry about all of that later. What I have to worry about now is growing up and not dying before I can learn everything there is to know about chakra.

Feeling the walls push me into the light I feel the crisp air burn my skin as my high pitch screams fill the air while soft hands pick me up.

"It's a boy Mr.Kumao." I hear a feminine voice say as I'm handed to a different set of hands quickly being wiped down. "She's crashing!" I hear the feminine voice shout as a loud beep fills the room.

Forcing open my eyes I stare up at the younger-looking man in his early twenties with messy brown hair, a scar across his forehead, and tears rolling down his face. So this is my father. I wonder if he'll hate me for killing my new mother? Listening to the nurses and doctors frantically try to revive my mother my father looks down at me, his tears dripping in my face as he gives me a weak smile.

"Hello, Hoshi." I hear him whisper as leans down kissing my forehead, his unshaved face prickling my skin.