Asuma did not know the truth. He thought he had simply been rescued from the brink of death. Although he still had some doubts, his most important task now was to soothe his frightened wife.
Kurenai Yuhi was actually fairly easy to reassure. After all, she was a jonin who had fought in a war. Although she resented Asuma's recklessness a little, she was still proud of her husband.
After Asuma woke up, many shinobi who heard the news came to visit him. He noticed something in the eyes of a few acquaintances, but it only left him somewhat puzzled.
That lasted until... Shikamaru spoke with Asuma alone and told him the truth.
"Wait... Shikamaru, are you saying I've already died once?" Asuma struggled to take in the news.
As the Third Hokage's son, he knew quite a lot, including many of the Shinobi World's secrets. But ninjutsu that could bring someone back to life...
"That's right. You really were dead then. Even your body had started to go cold. Shunichi used Kakuzu's life to bring you back."
"Resurrection would cause a lot of trouble, so Lord Hokage ordered us to tell everyone you were only gravely injured." As Shikamaru looked at the resurrected Asuma, all he could picture was his cold corpse that day.
"I... understand. Looks like I really embarrassed myself this time!" Asuma gave a wry smile.
In truth, he had already realized something was wrong. Although he had not entered the Pure Land, he still remembered everything before his death. He knew perfectly well that his injuries then had been beyond saving.
If medical shinobi really could do anything, Dan Katō would never have died!
"Heh, I'm fine. Stop making that miserable face. I only died once. There can't be many people in the whole Shinobi