A male medic?... Are you sure?

Prologue

I didn't remember my death. At least... I think I died. Everything is very dark here, and the constant beating is annoyingly soothing. It makes everything mangled and hard to make out. Whenever I push my limbs, a membrane-like barrier blocks my way. I remember enough about my old life to make the educated guess that this is a womb. I don't know why I am awake enough to have these thoughts. Nor why I have memories at all. Every piece of theology that included reincarnation that I was aware of always mentioned the whipping of the soul and erasure of the memories that accompanied it. Gentle pressure from the outside of the womb meets my own stretches. A muffled sound pierces its way in here. It was soft and just as soothing as the constant beating. It's hard to explain. The presence of one's mother is a powerful thing indeed. It was so reassuring to have that feeling of presence.

I wonder what it is like on the outside. Will I be reborn into a noble family during the renaissance? Or a merchant in feudal Japan? My mind raced with ideas. I hope my mother and father are nice. But it would suck if I had to raise myself. Even if I am pretty much an adult and was practically raised already, I wonder what childrearing practices entail in this new society. Or if there even is an advanced society where you can focus on raising children. I don't think I could thrive in such a world. But, maybe with enough training and some luck, I could make do.

A few weeks have passed. Time in this place is weird. I also sleep a lot here, so my thoughts are muddled. They just start in the middle and end abruptly. However, whenever I'm awake, I hear the soft rumbling. Mom must be pretty chatty... Or maybe she is just high on hormones; I don't know how that works. I started hearing another deeper rumble every so often as well. I guess that is my father, or grandfather if dad is not in the picture. He was not as talkative as my mother. I also tried to kick against the womb every so often so they wouldn't get worried about my health. Not that I could tell if I was healthy or not, but at least I was alive.

It was nice to have so much time to be alone and think for this time. I didn't remember why I died in the first place. And the memories of my day-to-day life were beginning to fade. Instead, I remember stronger feelings and such things. For some reason, the Naruto story was quite clear in my mind, so when I didn't want to think anymore, I replayed the story in my mind to pass the time. The thing I thought about most during this time was my previous family. And since I can't talk to anyone, I will express whatever I need to say to myself and hope my thoughts reach them somehow.

Mom. As I said before, I don't know how my life was before this all happened, but I feel the immense thankfulness for you will be hard to articulate well. I will always be thankful for whatever you did for me in my past life. I hope my new mom is half as patient and loving as you. I love you and always will.

Dad, however, seemed a bit more distant. I can feel that I never really had a great relationship with him. I even remember distancing myself from him and his entire side of the family. He always seemed to prefer picking on me, or he was angry that I did something or other to my brother, or at least I think...

Time flew by. I must have been on my sixth or seventh rewatch of the Naruto series when all the water in the womb fell out. It was then that I realised that I had been turned upside down for the first time. The rest of my birth was painful for mom. Suppose all the screaming was anything to go by. I didn't scream until my lungs filled with air. I believe it was an instinct for babies to cry as soon as they took a breath. I was swaddled and handed to my mother soon enough. I stopped crying as soon as I heard mom's familiar heartbeat. Not for lack of trying. I tried to stop crying when I took my second breath, but my body refused to obey my commands. With my blurred vision could not see anything around me. But my mother's soft voice and heartbeat were enough to calm down my body, and I fell asleep.

My new parents, Miei and Touma, seem nice enough. I spent most of my woke day being carried by my mother as she walked around the house, did small chores, and cooked food for her and dad. My vision had cleared up quite a bit since my birth. However, I could still not see six metres ahead of me.