"Stop."
The word came out cold. Naruto blinked, looking up.
Sasuke was staring at him, his eyes sharp.
"Don't say things like that so easily," Sasuke said, his voice low. "You don't know if that's going to happen."
Mini Sasuke's fingers tightened around Naruto's hand. The hope in his eyes flickered, uncertainty creeping back in.
"U-Usura..tonkachi…?" the boy asked softly.
Naruto's expression hardened instantly. He crouched slightly, bringing himself to Mini Sasuke's level.
"Hey, don't listen to him, dattebayo," Naruto said, his voice firm but warm. "It's gonna be fine. Trust me."
Mini Sasuke hesitated. Naruto placed a hand on his head again, gentler this time.
"Even your older self…" Naruto added, glancing briefly at Sasuke, "...he has lost it too. Just like Neji." Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly.
"But that doesn't mean it's over," Naruto continued, his voice steady. "I'll take you back. I promise. You'll see your clan again."
Mini Sasuke's trembling lip steadied. His grip on Naruto's sleeve tightened—not out of fear this time, but fragile belief.
Sasuke clicked his tongue.
"Tch."
He looked away.
'This idiot…'
His gaze dropped slightly, his thoughts darkening. 'He's making promises he can't guarantee.'
A cold possibility crossed his mind.
'If something goes wrong… if this doesn't work…'
His eyes flickered toward his younger self.
'…and he gets hurt because of that so called hope…'
His jaw tightened.
'Naruto..your stupidity… will be the reason.'
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then his eyes shifted again—to the small hand gripping Naruto's sleeve, to the faint stability returning to the Mini Sasuke's expression.
Sasuke exhaled quietly.
'…But for now…'
His gaze softened, just slightly.
'I guess it's enough.'
The heavy silence in the alley was suddenly broken by a sharp, desperate inhale. Lee's chest expanded as if he were about to burst.
"EVERYONE! PLEASE!" Lee erupted, his voice cracking with the absolute force of his urgency. "I have been trying to tell you! It is a matter of the most importance to our Youth!"
Neji, Tenten, Naruto, and even Mini Sasuke all stepped forward instinctively, their hands already moving to shut him up.
"Not now, Lee!" Tenten muttered.
"Give it a rest, Gejimayu!" Naruto added.
But before they could silence him, Sakura and Hinata stepped in front of Lee, forming a protective barrier.
"Wait! Let him speak," Sakura commanded, her voice firm.
Hinata nodded softly, her eyes kind. "He has been trying to say something for a long time. We should listen."
Lee froze, his large eyes welling up with massive, sparkling 'tears of youth.' He looked at the two girls as if they were divine beings.
"Sakura-san! Hinata-san! I shall never, ever forget this kindness! My soul burns with gratitude!"
Sakura and Hinata shared a small, weary smile, while the other boys just sighed. Then, Lee's expression suddenly went stone-cold serious. The tears stopped.
"Does it not seem strange to you?" Lee asked, his voice dropping. "That Kakashi-sensei is here in Tetsu no Kuni... with no proper purpose?"
Sakura's brow furrowed. "I suppose... it is a long way from the Konoha."
"He's a shinobi," Sasuke countered, his voice like ice. "If he's here, he's on a mission."
"But what if the mission is us?" Naruto interjected, his eyes widening as the thought struck him. "What if he was sent here specifically to find a bunch of weirdos who don't belong in this time?"
Lee pointed a finger straight at Naruto, his eyes blazing. "EXACTLY! Naruto-kun, you are one hundred percent correct! Your instincts are as sharp as a freshly forged kunai!"
Tenten scratched her head, looking completely lost. "Wait, I don't get any of this. How would they even know we're here?!"
Sasuke stepped forward, his patience finally snapping. He grabbed Lee by the shoulders and began to shake him hard. "Enough with the riddles, Lee! What did you hear?! Tell us exactly what you know!"
Lee took a long, shaky breath, looking Sasuke right in the eyes. "The entire city... everyone in Tetsu no Kuni... they already know who we are."
The air in the alley seemed to vanish.
'Our disguise... it was useless from the start?' Neji thought, his heart hammering against his ribs. 'How? I checked the surrounding... I monitored the chakra signatures. Where did we slip up?'
Mini Sasuke's small face went pale. 'Does that mean they know about the Uchiha? If they know there are two of us... they'll never let us leave.'
Hinata's hands trembled as she pressed them against her chest. 'If they know we are from Konoha... then Kakashi-Sensei isn't here to rescue us. He's here to capture us as imposters.'
"What did you just say?!" Sasuke shouted, his grip tightening on Lee's shoulders until his knuckles turned white.
"I heard men talking in a shop while we were separated." Lee stated, his voice trembling but clear.
"They know! They know we aren't really ninjas from Kirigakure—they've known the whole time! They know that there are Uchiha and Hyuga members among them. They know we are from Konohagakure. And that is why I think Kakashi-sensei has been called—to inspect the 'imposters' who are using Konoha's secret bloodlines!"
Sasuke let out a cursed breath, his hand moving from Lee's shoulder to his own face, covering his eyes.
"Tch," Neji spat, his jaw tightening so hard it looked like it might break.
"How could they know?!" Sakura cried out, her voice rising in panic. "We were so careful! We wore the disguises! We didn't use our real names in public!"
Mini Sasuke looked around at the terrified, tensed faces of the older ninjas. He looked small and vulnerable in the center of the group. "But... how?" he asked quietly. "How did they find out? We did everything right, didn't we?"
The tension in the alleyway was as thick as the falling snow, a heavy, suffocating silence that was finally broken by Hinata's trembling voice.
"What if..." Hinata began, her fingers twisting together nervously. "What if they saw our eyes? Neji-niisan and I... we can't hide the Byakugan's appearance. Anyone who knows the Great Clans would recognize a Hyuga the moment they looked at us."
Neji turned his gaze toward her, his expression hard but his voice surprisingly calm. "We cannot be blamed for the eyes we were born with, Hinata-sama. We could hardly gouge them out to stay hidden, and wearing bandages over our faces in a peaceful market would have drawn even more suspicion. It was a risk we had no choice but to take."
A brief silence followed Neji's words, but it didn't last long.
Hinata hesitated for a moment, her fingers tightening slightly against her sleeve. "…Neji-niisan… that might not be the only reason."
Neji turned toward her. "What do you mean?"
Hinata lowered her gaze, speaking softly, but clearly.
"When everyone got separated in the market… before Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan found me… I was surrounded by people."
Naruto scratched his cheek lightly. "Yeah… that crowd…" Sakura nodded once. "It was pretty intense."
Hinata continued, her voice steady but uneasy. "My eyes were closed at the time… but I could hear them. They weren't just talking randomly… it felt like they already knew."
Neji's expression sharpened.
"Knew what?" Tenten asked.
Hinata lifted her head slightly. "…They were saying that members of the Hyuga clan were present in their land."
A pause.
Neji's eyes narrowed instantly.
"And… they also said…" Hinata's voice dropped just a little, "…that there were two pairs."
"…Two pairs?" Tenten repeated, her tone no longer casual.
Mini Sasuke's grip on his sleeve tightened. "…They knew… that much?"
A faint tension spread through the group.
Hinata nodded slowly. "Yes… and it didn't feel like a guess. It felt like… they were certain."
Neji went silent, his mind clearly racing now.
"…That's impossible," he muttered under his breath.
Beside them, Sasuke remained still, his gaze lowered, completely lost in his own thoughts—barely registering the conversation.
"And they also mentioned…" Hinata started again—
"It's not your fault, and it's not Neji's either." Tenten interrupted sharply. She crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing as she shifted her gaze away from the Hyuga pair. "If we're looking for the person who actually dropped the ball..."
She let the sentence hang as she stared directly at Mini Sasuke.
Mini Sasuke felt the weight of her stare and puffed out his chest, a defensive frown forming on his young face. "What are you looking at me for, Dango-girl?"
"You," Tenten snapped, her voice laced with frustration. "You and your older self. Do you have any idea how careless you were? Leaving evidence behind for anyone to find!"
Sasuke remained perfectly still, his gaze fixed on a distant rooftop. He didn't argue, because the memory of their hurried exit from the bathhouse flashed through his mind with agonizing clarity. It was a careless mistake—an error in judgment born of exhaustion.
"If you have time for a blame game, Tenten," Sasuke said, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous warning, "then blame me. Don't take it out on a child who doesn't know better."
Mini Sasuke looked between them, his confusion growing. He tugged on Sakura's sleeve, whispering loudly, "When did that happen? Why is she being so mean?"
Sakura and Hinata both leaned down, shushing him gently and trying to pat his shoulders to keep him from snapping back at Tenten, who looked ready to explode.
A few steps away, Sasuke stood still, his gaze lowered. 'She's going to say too much, he thought. Without looking, he moved his hand slightly and pinched Neji's arm—a silent signal.
Neji's eyes blinked at Sasuke as if they were seeing 'I KNOW'
For a moment, he considered stepping in, but then his gaze flicked toward Naruto. The tension in his stance and the sharpness in his tone showed he wasn't calm; he was just holding it together.
'If I step in now, he'll know I hid this from him. And Naruto… is not someone I want as my enemy right now.'
Neji stayed silent, and that silence allowed things to continue. Tenten clicked her tongue, her frustration returning.
"You guys seriously don't get it…?"
---
📊 BATTLE REPORT: 74-IRON 📊
LOSER: Tenten 🟤 🔨
SNEAK PEEK LINES 💬
"Then what about the part where a servant found it the next morning?"
'I assumed it was some traveler's lost luggage.'
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—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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