Chapter 1: Death & Rebirth
My name is Dante Edmonds, I am 25 years old and I live in the Bronx in New York. I live paycheck to paycheck in an overpriced small-a.s.s, one bedroom and one-bathroom apartment. I work all day and because my job is understaffed, I must work an excessive amount of overtime. Every f.u.c.king day I work 8 hours and an added 8 hours of overtime and I"m still barely paying bills. What is the point of continuing with this life if I"m just a d.a.m.n slave to my job? When I get home I just eat, sleep, shower and repeat the f.u.c.king cycle. To relax I play video games, read manga and novels, watch movies, shows and anime. My favorites were always Gankutsuou, Dragon Ball, Bleach, One Piece and some of Naruto, the manga of course, too many d.a.m.n fillers in the anime.
Like most people with mundane and tedious jobs, daydreaming was my only escape. Due to reading and watching anime and manga, I tend to put myself in the protagonists" shoes or mostly make my own character in their worlds. Sure, when imagining, I am the master of my own story, all powerful, all knowing and overpowered as h.e.l.l, but I digress. Now none of that matters considering I died. It"s not hard to believe I died because I was overworked. Dead on my couch with my uniform still on, s.h.i.tty way to die. I hope they blame my job for this, haha. How can I be conscious of my own death you may ask? Because like in many of the Isekai - genre light novels and manga I have read I am currently conversing with a G.o.d, the G.o.d we know or from other religions? Who knows?
G.o.d: So, have you come to terms with your death my son?
Dante: I guess, but why did I have to die so soon? I have tried to take care of myself, organic food, exercise and sleep, if I get to go home to sleep. (sighs deeply)
G.o.d: What do you want me to say, my son? All living things will eventually die, you know this. Just like one of your favorite quotes from one of your favorite anime, "Mores Certa, Hora Incerta". (Death is certain, its hour uncertain -Gankutsuou).
Dante: I get that, but this isn"t heaven, more like an interview room. What are you going to do? show me the hard drive that is my life and give me the play by play as to how you are gonna send me to h.e.l.l or something?
G.o.d: Quit quoting comedians. (Shakes head) You are here not just because you died naturally but because you died unfairly. Your death was accelerated by unfair working conditions just to live a tired life without much else to do. Like in your stories, would you like to reincarnate into a one of those worlds?
Dante: Wow, I would love to but what are my options or under what conditions?
G.o.d: Well, you can go into whatever universe you want and be whatever person you want to be. Just know that I do not govern, nor can I interfere over those fictional universes. Although whatever universe you choose to go to it will be a real world. So, none of those level-up power systems.
Dante: Dammit! (Snaps fingers) So, if I choose a universe, do I have an option as to what kind of person I will be? Like in the Dragon Ball universe can I choose Saiyan as a race or like in the Naruto universe, can I be an Uchiha, Senju, Uzumaki or Hyuga?
G.o.d: Yes, you can, but if you choose the Dragon Ball universe then you will have to be brought to the time before Frieza destroyed planet Vegeta or earlier.
Dante: Ok what about mix and matching? Can I be a certain race in a different universe?
G.o.d: You know what, knock yourself out.
Dante: Sweet. Make me a Saiyan in the Naruto universe 3 years before Uzumaki Naruto was born. Also, can I keep my memories?
G.o.d: Sure, why not, this conversation already took too long anyway.
Dante: Thank you, G.o.d.
G.o.d: You"re welcome my son.
As the G.o.d in front of me snapped his fingers my consciousness began to fade, and I seeped into darkness. I don"t know how much time has elapsed, it could be a few minutes, hours, days or even years. I open my eyes slowly just to find myself floating in a warm liquid. Like most people, I have no awareness or recollection of being in my mothers" womb, so I guess this must be what it feels like to me being born again. Again, more time has elapsed, and I shifted positions, meaning I must be close to being born. I open my eyes and see my exit. I squirm out and the embryonic fluid that kept me warm and toasty is now f.u.c.king freezing! As I cry out of my mothers" birth ca.n.a.l. I have yet to learn the language completely, even though I took cla.s.ses in college, j.a.panese is still hard, but because of years of anime and manga, I can at least make out most of what the people around me are saying. I"m just worried about the surprised looks the doctors, nurses and my parents have for my tail and trying to figure out whether to take it off or keep it. According to the differences of the pictures of me I remember as a baby in my previous life and in this new one, I seem to be much more robust and st.u.r.dier without being a chubby baby. I am glad that my parents decided to let me keep my tail although I would have probably at least killed someone due to my abnormal strength of a Saiyan. If I were to throw a tantrum, I would at least be able to kill the doctors and nurses. Since I am a Saiyan I want to keep my tail to master the Great Ape transformation and eventually the True Saiyan form, the form that comes when staying conscious and aware in the Oozaru form and compressing the form into a Super Saiyan 4 look but less powerful but with the full force of Oozaru.