A/N So I deleted my previous story, because I'll be honest it was rushed and not well thought out. This isn't very original in terms of setting, but I liked the idea after reading Forethought by Bemeera. Hooopefully I don't get super excited like I did last time and just blaze on carelessly.

Anyway, here's the first chapter. Hope you enjoy!

See how the game of life is playing all of us for fools
Dancing a string around us, making all these silly rules
See how he looks down on us like we're acting out a show
Throw the dice and let's see which head will roll...

"Where the fuck is our evac?" I was a little more then snappy, but hell when you have bullets flying past your head you'd be pretty hard pressed to be in a good mood. Currently, I found myself crouched behind our smoking humvee , praying for divine intervention of some sort. An explosion to my right made my ears ring, and I flung myself over a comrade as dirt and metal came raining down.

Fucking IEDs. This was something I expected from Afganistan. One tour in the Middle East had me leary of the desert. When I'd been assigned to Russia I'd been pretty excited. The Russian front was pretty calm seeing as they hadn't committed to the war yet. Go figure, my luck the Prime Minister signed with China a week after my boots hit the ground. Russia had been worse then the damn desert.

"Looks like we're pretty screwed, eh Harper?" a raspy cough and I flashed a strained grin. Our platoon of twenty was scattered to the wind. Our Lieutenant was dead. Actually, he was in pieces about twenty feet to my left. Details details. Then there was my squad leader. I had no idea where that fucker was. His vehicale had gone towards the tree line, and what was left of their caravan had been pinned down for the past hour in a fire fight.

Yeah, we were pretty screwed.

"You just keep your eyes open, Red. We'll get you out of here. You gotta get back for that recital right?" his wound was pretty bad. I'd stopped the bleeding as best I could, but my field kit was running low. That and he had a hole the size of my fist in his stomach. Will power was a hell of a thing though. Maybe if I gave him something to fight for...

Where was my fucking evac.

"Harps, you an I both know how this goes down. You stay and you die right along with me." he was right of course, but I was emotional. The reason I never made it to command. The reason I was a medic. Granted, emotions seemed to screw me over there as well, but at least I couldn't get in trouble for it.

"No man left behind, Red!" that earned me a laugh and another rattled cough. Shit, time was just about up. He snapped his tags off his neck and handed them to me. I didn't want to leave him, but I had to. If there was any hope of me getting out of here I had to get to the tree line where the rest of my squad probably was. If they weren't dead. That was a long run, and I was scared I wouldn't make it to the finish line.

"We're not the Marines, dumb ass. Go!" he pushed his tags into my hand, and I took a deep breath. We stared for a moment as I phsyched myself up.

"See you on the other side, Red. Hoo-ah!" turning on my heel I bolted. I litterally ran for my life towards those trees heavy with snow. Bullets wizzed past my head, and I wondered if the Russians were even bothering to aim.

Get to the trees. Just get to the trees. I'd make it, trudge to the nearest evac zone, and be on my way home. I should have just went to med school. No, I had to go and prove to my family that dorky little Harper could follow tradition and serve her country. I just wanted to be home. I wanted to sit in my bed watch anime and play an mmo.

"Shit!" a bullet to the leg sent me tumbling forward. Adrenaline's a hell of a drug.. I popped up onto my feet and kept on charging. There was the sensation of being stabbed for the brieffest moment before my leg just went numb. Behind me a trail of red streaked the snow. The hole must be bigger then I thought. Maybe they'd send me home after this wound.

Then I heard it. The loud pop of a sniper rifle in the distance. While I didn't hear the bullet whistling my way I knew damn well what was about to happen. Eyes slid shut. Please miss. A breath and then impact with the back of my head.

Lights out

Game over.

There are probably fifty million different concepts on life after death. My family was god fearing. Myself not so much. To be quite honest I expected nothing after all was said and done. No blaring trumpets. No fluffy white clouds with people lounging on them. No heat and screaming agony. Nada.

One reason I had an issue with religion, it was filled with contradiction. No matter which on you looked at. Numero two, let's pretend this being of supreme power was benevolant and all loving. Humans couldn't get along in this life. Why the hell would they get along in the next. Diety of choice would probably go crazy after a while. Then I had to consider the amount of destruction we were capable of. These greater beings either had a sick sense of humor, or got off on watching their creations kill each other off.

I digress.

Was I right?

Hell no I wasn't.

Death was a dark warm box. Maddeningly cramped and constantly moving. Completely different from the life I'd just departed from. At first, I preferred it to the cold unforgiving Russian land scape, but after a while I got bored. I found my self kicking and wriggling to free myself of the infernal box. A god of any sort would have been a welcome sight. This purgatory had given me far to much alone time.

Then it happened.

A rush around me that I could only equate to laying in the middle of a running stream. My box shrunk in around me and I felt myself being pushed gently. What ever was happening was slow moving. As I tried to gasp for breath my mouth was flooded with liquid. Then I was pulled more forcefully. A couple of yanks and the warmth disapeared and cold shocked me into... crying?

No, not just crying. Straight wailing.

Light filled my vision and i could see shadowed figures moving over me. Had I been captured? Why was everything so big? Soft humming noises calmed me. Something soft and warm was wrapped around me, and I felt my fear start melting away. Surely the Russians would be torturing me instead of making me comfortable.

I blinked furiously, still trying to make sense of what I was seeing, but the foggyness refused to rise. I was moved. No, I was litterally handed to another person. A rather pleasant smell washed over me as a soft feminine voice filled my ears. She was nice. I liked her a lot. Her voice was calming. Instinct kicked in and I leaned into the warm protective woman. A deeper voice joined in and they seemed like they were conversing. Their voices were muffled and garbled. Comforting compared to the dark silence I'd been sitting in.

I didn't really care. I was content. People were around me again. I wasn't alone and I was safe.

So I fell asleep.

From that point on everything was a little disorienting. My eyes slowly started to get better. I went from hazy shadow figures to actually being able to make out forms of things. Specifically the giants that took care of me. I worried for a time that I'd been reduced to a vegtable due to some head trauma. I had been shot in the head right? Pretty bad ass to survive, but having brain damage was far more infuriating. Then I learned to control the sounds I made. Any time I felt hungry I'd cry and they'd swoop in and make the terrible emptiness disapear. Then it dawned on me. They weren't giants.

I was a freaking baby.

Boy did I scream and howl when I realized this fun little fact. Don't get me wrong, I was happy that I wasn't all but brain dead, but really? A baby? I had to go through puberty again? My parents, bless them, took my frustration in stride. They'd talk to me and my mother would sing to me. Yes, I was a sucker for it and it helped. I had no flipping idea what either of them was saying, but it was comforting that I at least had another loving family.

Eventually I picked up on some of the words. Never will I doubt the power of a new mind. Information stuck inside my head. Like I was some kind of sponge. 'Okaa-san' was what the woman was determined for me to call her. 'Otou-sama' was apparently my father. Easy enough. From what I could tell I was an only child. No one other then my parents ever came to play with me. So no other names worth learning.

That sucked. I was going to miss having five siblings.

Nothing to be done about it. I just had to accept the fact that I'd been part of some kind of botched reicarnation system. These were my parents, and no matter how much I disliked it I was no longer Harper. I was Yuriko, or Yuri-chan.

My parents spoilt me, and I loved it. Not much time had to pass before I started to forget pieces of my past. Gone was the war medic Harper. Instead bright little Yuri-chan took her place. This new life wasn't so bad. Why dwell on the past when I obviously had the advantage in my new life. Using my bored twenty three year old mind I did my best to accelerate my mental growth. As soon as my legs were strong enough I was up toddling about. That was something I wanted a handle on as soon as possible. Then I started on mastering this new language.

My first words had my mother and father squabbling.

They made bets.

I said 'Mama' first. To be honest Okaa-san felt a little formal for my taste. She was smug as hell about it. A bit unfair, but she was my mother after all. Not that my father had long to wait. Granted, I was a bit of a brat about it. He came home looking particularlly exhausted and Okaa-san was busy cooking. In my adorable child like fashion I grabbed his leg and made 'grabby' hands before squeaking out Otou-san. San was so much easier then -sama. That title fit him. He was going to be the strict parent of the two. So a little more respect was needed.

He immeadiately took me to my Mama and started bragging and tried to get me to say it again. I giggled like the adorable idiot I was. For a good twenty minutes he sat with me at the table trying to get me to say it. Being the jerk that I was I just cooed and waved my hands. When I did finally say it he about fell over. That made me happy.

Otou-san became a lot more envolved after that. When he came home we would play little hand games, and there were times that I knew he was dead tired. He always smelt of dirt and sweat, but he always made time for me. One time he even tried to teach me this really cool dance. Smart as I was, my chubby body couldn't quite perform. Mama would always laugh and watch.

We were a happy family.

Shit hit the metaphorical fan a few months after my third birthday.

Otou-san had been teaching me some weird hand signs. I think it was sign language of some sort. When he first did it I couldn't keep up. Seriously how could his hands move so fast. Then he slowed down. It wasn't that hard to learn.

"Pay attention Yuri-chan. Remember what I told you about your chakra." another word for energy or something along those lines. I'd heard plenty of theories on it, but this one made sense. I could actually feel my chakra. Both Mama and Otou-san helped me learn to control it. "Now after this one I want you to concentrate it into your eyes. Focus on trying to see more."

Weird but okay.

I concentrated hard on keeping up with his hands. All the while I felt the fuzzy buzz that was my chakra build behind my eyes. Last hand sign, and dad said something that about made me die a second time.

"Byakugan" the world around me lit up, and I let out a little screech. Vessels strained around my eyes, and my Otou-san went from being a normal human being to this mess of blue lines. I couldn't hold it long.

One, it scared the shit out of me. I could see EVERYTHING.

Two, he said Byakugan. As in.. Byakugan. Naruto any one? I was in Naruto.

By the way, all the memories I'd locked away came rushing back.

My father laughed as I toppled to the side in shock. He probably thought it was because of what we just did. In my head I was screaming. Memories that I didn't even know I had came rushing to the surface. Orochimaru. The Great Shinobi Wars. Tailed beasts. Madara. Oh and... Madara. Did I mention creepy snake face?

Suddenly my father's white pupiless eyes made all the sense in the world. I was a Hyuuga. I was Yuriko Hyuuga. Daughter of Hideki and Botan Hyuuga. They hadn't just been teaching me hand signs. They had been preparing me. They were training me to be a shinobi.

Another fucking war. I couldn't catch a break.