New Life

Chapter Two

"Alright, Hoshi just copy me and aim for the target," Tenten says her hair up in her signature two buns as she holds her stance, a kunai in her hand in a throwing position. Looking Tenten up and down I turn towards my target hung up on a tree. Doing my best to copy her form I reach into my ninja pouch flinging out a kunai knife, my eyes following it as it soars through the air hitting the wooden target, a thud filling my ears as the kunai get stuck in the wood.

"Wow, that was really good!" Tenten says turning to me, her brown eyes looking at me with excitement. "Do it again. I want to watch your form." My elder sister says as I replicate the proper stance I saw Tenten use. My name is Hoshi or as it would've been in English Star and I am the younger brother of Tenten. Four years have passed since I was born and since then it has been a fairly simple life. I've spent my time practicing chakra control and pretending to be a child. I was lucky that my brother chose this world because I don't think my acting is good enough to fool trained assassins so I lucked out that the kids grow up fairly fast.

"Ok," I say softly, throwing another knife my sister claps her hand after watching the kunai embed itself into the target.

"That was perfect!" Tenten shouts excitedly. "Just keep doing that and you might be as good as me." Sighing in my mind I put on a happy face while turning to the girl who's been by my side for the last four years and give her a grin.

"Was that good?" I am genuinely curious if I copied her form correctly. I noticed that with the new soul I have many minor changes whether it's with my new shorter temper or my increased senses. I'm a new man, well boy but it's the same thing and with my new soul, it made learning and copying things much easier. Tenten is a good sister and an even better weapons user even if she is only five which is why it would be foolish of me to disregard her.

"Yeah, it was really good," Tenten says with a giggle while taking out her own kunai throwing it hitting the outside edge of the bullseye.

"That's enough you two!" turning around I look at the owner of the gruff voice, a tall man with strong well-muscled arms and a dirty white tank top with charcoal stains littering it.

"Dad!" Tenten and I call running into his arms as I follow behind her my father wrapping his sweaty arms around us kissing our heads.

"I just finished working on a project so let me get washed up then we'll go to the park." My father says with a soft smile setting us back down.

"Ok!" Tenten and I call in unison running inside the house our father follows behind us going straight to his room to get ready for the park. Looking around the spacious living room I admire the beautiful katanas and other weapons forged by my father mounted on the walls and the small shrine dedicated to my mother with two incense burning beneath a picture of her. She was a beautiful woman with long black hair, a gentle smile, brown almond-shaped eyes, and a small nose. Father tells us stories about her all the time, her love for watching him work, and her dream of being a shinobi, but she could never complete her dream.

My mother was cursed with a frail body that wouldn't allow her to complete her dream and the birth of me broke her body. Unlike my last life, this father doesn't blame me for her death which means no senseless beatings like my last life. Tenten was only one when she died so she holds no grudge against me either, in fact, she seems to be overly protective of me.

I don't mind. Her being by me helps me blend in because when she's close by and I don't know how a child should react in the situation I'm in I can just copy her reaction. She's a nice girl and I enjoy spending time with her. It makes my life as a child bearable because she's much more mature than the children I remember. She tells me stories of the Legendary Sannin Lady Tsunade, teaches me how to throw kunai and shuriken, and everything else an elder sister does.

My final goal in this world is to gain as much power as I can so that way I can work towards becoming a deity. Once I become of age I am going to learn as much as I can to have more information to bring into my future lives. I may consider myself a good fighter but I'm surrounded by people who descend from people who have fought for multiple lifetimes so there's no point in being content with my abilities. I plan on cultivating my foundation to make sure I'm ready to battle other reincarnations. Depending on the world I reincarnate into I may not want to share the knowledge that could be learned from there and they might not want the same.

I haven't seen any different people that could be another reincarnator but I will not grow content. I want to become a deity and learning chakra could help significantly with that. For now, I'll observe, looking for anything that should be out of place. I may not have any Jutsu that I can practice but I can learn the weapons in the shop my father does claim to know how to use all of them so I would like to learn. I will also learn how to use the powers of my soul. I know it imprinted the powers of the Dragon Phoenix onto this body and I can even change into one if I want but I want to focus on the fire manipulation and generation that the phoenix gives. I've already begun to train it and it's surprisingly easy but I still have to practice. All the other powers that the soul gives are passive so I don't have to worry about training them which saves time.

Hearing the water stop I feel a small grin come to my face as I run to the door slipping on my sandals as I prepare for my father to leave. I love going to the park but not because I get to play with the other kids I love the park because I get to observe the other kids. As creepy as that my sound no one knows much about Tenten's past so I can easily skate by pretending to be her unnamed brother but if another soul reincarnated and got the unlucky role of being siblings of any of the main characters they'll be easy to spot and that's what I'm planning to do.

I haven't seen any of them yet but each time we go to the park there's a chance that I can see a reincarnator. I could very well be paranoid right now but I don't like being blindsided and the earlier I find another reincarnator the more I can learn about them and judge whether or not they'll be a threat and if I want to share the knowledge that this world can give.

"Hoshi!" I hear Tenten scream my mind coming back to reality as I look in front of me at Tenten her nose practically touching my own as she presses her hand on my forehead. "Hoshi are you ok? Dad said he'll meet us at the park. Come on don't just stand there." Tenten says, taking my hand dragging me out of the house. Brushing my black hair out of my eyes I let Tenten lead me to the park where multiple other kids are all running playing games with one another.

"I'm going to go play with some friends you can come if you want if not just stay close to the park." Tenten says with a smile before running off to play with some of her friends. Walking past all the parents I go to the same tree I sit under whenever we come here sitting down resting my back on the trunk. Picking up four small pebbles I place them on the back of my triceps hiding them from anyone who may be watching me.

Looking at the children I gaze at all of their faces trying to find any one of them that may be familiar only for none of them to ring a bell in my memory. Sighing in my mind I hang my head back and look up in the tree. Survival is key. I know I can gain power in this world and as long as I don't get blindsided I know I can have a good time while working towards immortality.

"Hi I'm Natsumi, what's your name?" Lifting my head from against the bark I stare across at the young girl wearing an orange shirt, black shorts, her blond hair with red streaks up in pigtails, two blue eyes, and three whisker marks on either side of her cheeks.