"Back in the market... I crushed someone's feet!"
The silence that followed was total.
"You... what?" Sakura asked, her jaw dropping.
Naruto and Lee blinked their eyes simultaneously, looking genuinely sympathetic for the poor man whose feet had met the Uchiha's wrath. Hinata's hands flew to her mouth, her eyes wide with shock.
"Why would you do that?" Neji asked, his brow furrowing.
"Obviously, the man pushed my small body," the boy explained with a shrug. "I had to defend my position."
The group let out a collective, tired 'Oh,' nodding as if that explained everything.
Tenten actually grinned, punching the air.
"Nice! That's what he gets! Karma strikes back, kid!"
"THAT IS NOT WHAT I WANTED TO SAY!" Sasuke roared, finally losing his cool and landing a light, irritated 'punch' on the top of Mini Sasuke's head.
Naruto started shouting with laughter again at Sasuke's loss of composure. Sakura watched them all, a small, worried sweat-drop appearing behind her head. 'Is there something wrong with all of us?' she wondered..'
Lee, seeing his chance, began to shed massive, sparkling 'tears of youth.' "Please! Everyone! Listen to me! It is about the—"
Hinata stepped forward, her heart going out to him. "Maybe we should let him speak..."
"Don't speak, Gejimayu." Mini Sasuke interrupted firmly, crossing his small arms. "The adults are talking now."
The air in the alleyway seemed to freeze, but not from the falling snow.
"Kakashi," Sasuke said, his voice barely a whisper.
It was a single name that turned their relief into a cold, heavy stone in their stomachs.
"What?!" Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison, their voices echoing off the damp stone walls.
Sasuke closed his eyes tightly, the image of that fox mask burned into his mind. "We have to leave. Now. The situation is not just bad—it's impossible."
While the older ninjas stood frozen, Mini Sasuke tugged on Lee's green sleeve, his voice barely above a whisper. "Gejimayu... back in the market, there was a man with white hair. Everyone was bowing to him, calling him an 'Elite.' He looked... scary."
Lee's thick eyebrows shot up to his hairline, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"I saw him on the main stage with some guy called Mifune," Sasuke continued, his gaze fixed on the ground. "Kakashi is here, in Tetsu no Kuni."
Sakura's brows furrowed slightly.
'Mifune…?'
The name echoed faintly in her mind, like something buried under layers of old academy lessons and mission briefings.
'Where have I heard that before…?'
Around her, the tension was rising—Naruto's confusion, Tenten's unease, Neji's silent calculations—but Sakura stood still, her thoughts racing inward instead.
'Mifune… Mifune… think, Sakura…'
A flicker.
A memory.
Hinata and Tenten locked their eyes, their faces pale with a shared silent. Beside them, Naruto and Lee looked at one another, a whirlwind of conflicting emotions passing between them.
'Kakashi-sensei?' Naruto thought, his mind racing back to the training grounds of Konoha. 'But... if he's here, then he can help us! He'll know what to do, dattebayo!'
A classroom. Iruka-sensei's voice. A map of the Five Great Nations… and one land that stood apart.
Her eyes widened.
'That's it…!'
Neji's brow furrowed, his tactical mind spinning. 'What is a Konoha shinobi doing this far north? And why now?'
Sakura lifted her head sharply, her voice cutting through the heavy air.
"Mifune… is the head of Tetsu no Kuni," Sakura said, her tone steady but urgent. "The leader of the Samurais."
The group froze for a split second.
Sasuke's eyes shifted slightly.
'…The head?'
A small, silent realization clicked into place in his mind. 'That's why… he was standing beside him like that.'
His gaze darkened.
'So that wasn't just any normal meeting… He was escorting Kakashi properly... a man from a foreign land.'
Beside him, Tenten felt a cold chill run down her spine. She clutched her stomach, a dull ache blooming there. 'The leader of this entire land… and Kakashi-Sensei is working with him? I don't like this. This feels like a trap.'
Sakura's heart was a mess of light and shadow after telling everyone about the leader of Tetsu no Kuni.
'Kakashi Sensei is here!' a part of her cheered, wanting to run toward the familiar comfort of her teacher. But then a darker thought chilled her. 'But... what if he looks right through me? What if I'm a stranger to him?'
'I don't like this… not at all.' Sakura's heart didn't settle even after speaking. 'If Mifune himself is involved… then this isn't some something normal…'
A quiet unease crept into her chest.
'What exactly is going on here…?'
Suddenly, Naruto broke the silence with a wide, desperate grin. "What are we doing just standing here?! We should be running to find him! He probably came to find us and take us back home, dattebayo!"
The group, except for Neji, looked at Naruto and felt a spark of hope. They turned to Sasuke, expecting him to lead the way, but Sasuke remained looking at his boots.
Sakura's smile faded as she noticed the grim set of his jaw.
"Sasuke-kun?" she asked softly, her brow furrowing. "It... it couldn't be a mistake, right?"
Neji crossed his arms, his pale eyes tracking a snowflake. "Yeah. Sasuke, are you certain it was him?"
Sasuke looked up, his eyes dark and haunted. "The Kakashi I saw... he was young. One, maybe two years older than we are now."
Naruto's grin faltered. "Hey, Teme, quit joking! You probably just saw some other guy with white hair. Kakashi-sensei is an adult!"
"He was wearing an ANBU outfit," Sasuke added, his voice flat. "It was him, Naruto. But it was a version of him from a time we haven't seen and maybe we were not even born into."
The reality hit them like a punch. Sakura sank to her knees, covering her ears as if she could shut out the truth. Tenten burst into tears, her voice cracking. "I just want to go home! I want my own bed! I don't want to be in the past anymore!"
Hearing the girls cry, Mini Sasuke's lip began to tremble. The mask of the 'cool Uchiha' shattered, and he started to sob, calling out for his mother and father. Hinata immediately knelt on the ground, pulling the boy into a hug and wiping his tears with her sleeve.
"Tenten! Sakura! Stop it" Neji commanded, stepping toward them. "You're scaring the child! Look at him!"
Sasuke watched the chaos—his younger self weeping, the girls breaking down, and Naruto... Naruto was just standing there, head bowed, staring at his hands.
"And there's more—" Sasuke started to say, his voice tight.
Suddenly, a hand slammed onto Sasuke's shoulder. He looked up to see Naruto, his face hidden in shadow, his grip iron-firm. "Stop. Don't say another word, Sasuke."
Neji looked at Sasuke and waved a hand sharply, gesturing for him to stay silent.
Sasuke bit back his words, the weight of the 'ANBU Kakashi' revelation hanging heavy between them.
Naruto took a step towards Sasuke, a small, forced smile appearing on his face. It was the smile of a boy trying to convince himself the world wasn't ending. "It's... it's not possible, right? He's just some guy who looks like him."
"It was him, Naruto," Sasuke said quietly.
Naruto let out a shaky breath, raising both hands to cover his eyes. 'Damn it,' he cursed internally. 'Damn it all to hell!'
Seeing Naruto's spirit crack, Sasuke reached out and patted his friend's shoulder. It was a rare, silent moment of understanding.
"Then... why are we even going to Konoha?" Lee asked, his voice uncharacteristically small. "If nobody will recognize us... if our sensei is just a boy... what's the point?"
"Of course they'll recognize us!" Naruto shouted, spinning around.
"Naruto, logically—" Neji started to contradict.
"Logic doesn't matter!" Naruto interrupted, his blue eyes blazing with a sudden, wild hope. "Think about it! If we're in the past, your parents are still there! Your mom, your dad... everyone! We just have to explain it to them! They're your family—they'll under...."
"I never had them."
Neji's voice cut through Naruto's words like a blade.
Everything stopped.
The wind.
The movement
Even Naruto's voice died in his throat.
Neji stood there, unmoving, his pale eyes calm… but empty. "Past, present, or future… it makes no difference to me," he continued, his tone flat. "I never had a mother or a father to begin with."
Silence fell over the alley. Hinata's fingers trembled. "Neji-niisan…" she whispered, her voice soft, filled with quiet hurt.
Naruto didn't respond.Not immediately.
But inside— Something twisted.
'…What?' His fists slowly clenched at his sides. 'So what if you didn't have them…?'
A familiar anger began to rise—hot, sharp, uncontrollable.
'You think you're the only one who knows what that feels like…? 'Flashes of his own past surged through him. Empty rooms. Cold stares. Loneliness.
'Me… Sasuke… we didn't have anyone either…'
His jaw tightened.
'But that doesn't mean we stop caring!'
His eyes burned with a fierce, silent fire.
'I care about everyone… not just myself like some selfish guy…!'
"And how..." Neji continued, his voice calm and unshaken, "..how can you be so certain that we will arrive in a timeline that aligns with your expectations?"
Naruto's head snapped up. The anger didn't fade.
It sharpened.
He pointed at the sobbing Mini Sasuke. "Look! What if we're in his time?! Kakashi Sensei was roughly fifteen when we were his age, right?"
The group's faces slowly began to brighten as the math clicked in their heads.
"You mean..." Tenten wiped her eyes, her voice hopeful. "If they see us as older versions of their own kids..."
Naruto nodded happily. "Exactly! They'll see the resemblance! They'll understand! And most importantly..." He looked down at the boy in Hinata's arms. "Mini Sasuke can go home. He can see his clan again."
Mini Sasuke's tears stopped instantly. He scrambled out of Hinata's grip and grabbed Naruto's hand. "Is that true? Can I really see my father? Will the Uchiha clan help us?"
Naruto reached out, brushing the boy's dark hair with his hand, his smile finally reaching his eyes. "Yeah. It's true. We're going home, dattebayo."
"Stop."
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📊 BATTLE REPORT: 73-IRON 📊
LOSER: Uzumaki Naruto 🍥🟠
SNEAK PEEK LINES 💬
'He's making promises he can't guarantee.'
"That Kakashi-sensei is here in Tetsu no Kuni... with no proper purpose?"
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—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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