'It's just for a little while,' Sakura thought, looking at the others as they began to turn away.
'We'll meet up at Training Ground 3 in an hour. Nothing can happen in an hour.'
Mini Sasuke didn't move. As Ino took her first step away and Lee's hand tightened on his shoulder, the boy's boots remained glued to the stone.
The casual air of the group—the way they were moving towards their childhood bedrooms and favorite snacks—made something cold and rough twist in his gut.
"Wait." he snapped, his voice cutting through the soft chatter like a kunai.
Everyone stopped mid-step.
Mini Sasuke stood fixed to the spot, his black eyes flashing with a cold, uneven intensity. He didn't shout; he didn't need to.
The sharpness of his tone was enough to halt the drifting group in their tracks.
"That's it…? That's all it took to throw everything away?" he asked, his voice low and cutting.
A heavy, awkward silence fell over the intersection. Ino kept her hand mid-air, her expression shifting from surprise to a faint, defensive irritation.
Sakura bit her lip, looking away toward a nearby flower stall, while Naruto stood with one foot already turned toward the residential district, his sheepish grin slowly fading.
"Sasuke-kun... look around." Sakura said softly, her voice trailing off as she gestured to the peaceful streets. "Everything matches. The stone, the smell... it feels real."
"It feels real because you want it to be..." the boy countered, his jaw rigid. "You guys have a home to believe in just because you say it's your timeline. But.."
"What if I told you this was my timeline? We have the statue of the Yondaime on the mountain—does that make it mine? Would you believe me then!!?"
No one answered. Naruto shuffled his feet, looking at the ground.
"No...you wouldn't." the boy continued, his breath hitching with frustration. "So think about it for me, too. I can't believe that you're back in your time, and I'm certainly not saying I'm back in mine."
"It's all so damn mixed up. After all the effort we put into staying together... you're just going to abandon it all on a silly note called 'home'?"
Ino let out a sharp, dismissive huff. "You're overthinking it, kid. My clan is right there. You can literally see the Nara gates. It's not a trap if it's been there for twenty years."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head, his eyes hopeful but distracted. "I just... I just want to see if my bed is there, Sasuke. Just for a second. It'll be fine."
Lee nodded with a serious, yet overly optimistic expression. "Perhaps we should trust the spirit of the village! A shinobi's home is his strength!"
The boy watched them, his hand tightening into a fist at his side. He saw the way they were leaning away from his logic.
He saw the way Karin shifted her weight, caught between his warning and the promise of Sakura's food.
'They're not listening!' he thought, a hollow feeling opening up in his chest. 'They don't want to hear the truth. They want the dream.'
"Fine," Naruto said, breaking the tension with a casual wave as he started to walk. "We'll just check quickly. I need to grab some cash anyway."
"Yeah," Sakura added, already pulling Karin toward the residential lane. "We'll meet at Training Ground 3 in an hour. Nothing can happen in an hour, Sasuke-kun. Don't be so gloomy."
The group began to drift. It wasn't a sudden break; it was a slow, agonizing separation. Ino walked toward the flower shops with a confident stride.
Naruto began to jog toward his apartment. Sakura and Karin disappeared around a corner, talking about dinner. Lee began to guide him away, his hand firm on his shoulder.
The boy didn't say another word. He just watched the wind pick up, swirling the fallen leaves at the intersection. .
'They're walking straight into it,' he thought, looking at the empty space where his friends had just been.
For a moment… no one looked back.
The wind shifted.
Loose leaves broke free from the roadside trees, lifting into the air in a restless spiral before scattering across the intersection.
Some drifted lightly toward the heart of the village—drawn into its warmth, disappearing between crowded streets and quiet homes.
Some were carried farther… slipping past the main roads, gliding toward the silent edges where the trees grew thicker and the air felt heavier.
A few rose higher than the rest—caught in an unseen current—only to vanish beyond rooftops and walls that did not welcome outsiders.
And some…
Some never made it far at all.
They were dragged downward, caught in narrow paths and unseen corners, circling the same space as if something refused to let them leave.
The wind died just as quickly as it came.
The street fell still again. Not a single leaf remained where it had fallen.
The air at the intersection suddenly felt thinner. As the group drifted apart, a single, withered leaf was caught by a stray gust of wind.
It didn't tumble aimlessly; it sliced through the air with an unnatural purpose, dancing past the market stalls and over the rooftops until it fluttered toward the massive, red-painted wood of the A-UN GATE.
Standing beneath the shadow of the great entrance, a lone Chunin guard leaned against the stone pillar. He was whistling a low, idle tune to pass the time, his thumbs tucked into his tactical vest as he watched the peaceful horizon.
To him, it was just another quiet evening in Konoha. Then, the whistling stopped.
The guard straightened up, his eyes narrowing as they caught a movement at the edge of the forest line. A figure was approaching the gate, moving with a steady, haunting grace that felt entirely out of place in the golden afternoon light.
The stranger was shrouded in a heavy, dark cloak that swallowed his frame, the fabric fluttering slightly in the breeze. A deep hood was pulled low, but as the figure stepped into the long shadows of the gate, the guard caught a glimpse of something cold and porcelain beneath the darkness.
It was a mask—stark white and carved with the predatory features of a hound.
The guard's breath hitched in his throat. His hand instinctively flew to the pouch at his lower back, his fingers trembling as they fumbled for a kunai.
"Wait..." the guard whispered, his voice cracking with a sudden, sharp spike of adrenaline.
The guard stood paralyzed, his eyes locked on the masked shadow that was now standing just paces away from the entrance of the village.
The silence at the gate became absolute.
The guard swallowed hard, the cold sweat prickling at his neck as the man with the hound mask figure came to a halt beside him. He tried to force a laugh, a desperate attempt to break the suffocating pressure radiating from the mask.
"You..." the guard started, his voice a shaky whisper against the vast silence of the gate. "Why are you so late? I actually thought you had been killed by someone on the way back. I was starting to think—"
Before the nonsense could leave his lips, a gloved hand rose.
It was a sharp, low gesture—the right hand cutting through the air with a chilling finality. It didn't need a word. The command was absolute, a silent order to shut his mouth and never speak of the delay again.
The guard froze mid-sentence, his jaw snapping shut as if a physical weight had been placed upon it.
The figure didn't look at him.
He moved forward with a phantom-like grace, his boots barely making a sound on the stone. He stepped past the guard, the heavy fabric of his cloak brushing against the other man's tactical vest.
They stood there for a heartbeat, perfectly level with one another but facing opposite worlds. The guard remained rooted to his spot, his eyes fixed on the darkening treeline of the exit path, staring out at the forest where the wind still howled.
Behind him, the hound masked shinobi faced the heart of the village. His gaze was locked on the long, winding road that led deep into the residential districts—the very path where the group had just vanished.
The 'Hound' stood.. silent and still watching the peace of the village with eyes that saw far too much.
The two figures remained fixed in their spots, shadows stretching long across the stone floor of the gateway.
The guard kept his eyes locked on the distant forest, his shoulders tense, while the masked shinobi stared deep into the heart of the village.
"Hokage-sama.." the muffled, low voice came from beneath the hound mask. It wasn't a greeting; it was a cold, clinical demand for a location. "Where is he?"
The guard hesitated. He shifted his weight, his fingers twitching against the fabric of his trousers. He didn't turn his head, but the sweat on his brow caught the fading light.
"In a closed session at the HOKAGE OFFICE" the guard finally whispered, his voice thin. "A private meeting... with the clan heads."
The masked man didn't move a muscle, but the air around him seemed to drop several degrees. "The reason?"
"As per the intel you provided..." the guard began, then paused, swallowing hard as if the words were made of lead. "Two groups have been identified."
The masked shinobi went absolutely still. The silence that followed was sharp enough to draw blood.
"...Two?"
The word was barely a breath, but it carried a lethal edge of confusion.
"Yes.." the guard continued, his breathing becoming shallow. "The first was spotted this morning. As you predicted, all were captured… except one boy."
The 'Hound' remained silent, his gaze boring into the road where Naruto and the others had just disappeared. The guard took the silence as a cue to finish, his voice trembling with the weight of the news.
"The second group... the one that arrived roughly half an hour ago..."
He paused again, glancing nervously toward the empty streets of the residential district.
"We're waiting for orders."
The 'Hound' remained frozen, his masked gaze locked on the road leading into the heart of the village.
"Kakashi-kun."
The name cut through the silence like a cold blade.
The guard's head snapped toward the forest path, his eyes widening as a new figure emerged from the deepening shadows of the treeline. A man was walking toward the A-Un gate, his frame shrouded in a heavy black cloak.
A deep hood was pulled low over his face, concealing his features in a well of darkness.
"HALT!!" the guard shouted, his panic finally breaking. He hurried forward, his hands reaching out to roughly block the stranger's path. "State your business! No one enters the village without—"
The man in the black cloak stopped. He didn't raise his hands. He didn't reach for a weapon. He simply tilted his head slightly, and from beneath the shadow of his hood, a single, piercing black eye fixed onto Kakashi.
The gaze was steady, ancient, and utterly devoid of fear.
The guard's grip on the man's cloak tightened, his knuckles white. "I said stay back! We have no record of—"
"Let him pass.." Kakashi's voice interrupted, low and absolute. He turned around for the first time, his masked face now directed toward the entrance. "He's with me."
The guard blinked, his hands still trembling as he held the stranger back. "Are you sure? We didn't receive any intel regarding a new arrival. My orders are to—"
"I'm sure.." Kakashi stated, the silver of his hair catching a stray glint of moonlight. "Let him go."
Immediately, the guard pulled his hands away, stepping back with a look of deep confusion. The man in the black cloak didn't spare the guard a second glance. He walked forward with a slow, measured stride and came to a stop directly beside Kakashi.
He was taller than the silver-haired ANBU, his presence casting a long, imposing shadow across the stone floor. They stood side-by-side, two silhouettes of the night facing the road that led into the unsuspecting village.
Kakashi adjusted his cloak, the 'Hound' mask glinting one last time before he stepped into the light of the inner street.
"Let's go.." Kakashi whispered, his tone shifting into something formal and heavy.
"...HIKARU-SAN."
---
🔥 AUTHOR'S CORNER — WAIT WHAT IS GOING ON?? 😭
Okay okay—pause for a second.
If you just saw the name Hikaru and went like
"WAIT… wasn't he that Rinnegan guy from Volume 1???"
👉 YES.
👉 And also… NO 😏
This is Uchiha Hikaru…
BUT not the same one you saw before.
Not the one who did all that crazy stuff.
This is… another version.
Yeah I know 💀
Let me make it simple:
Think of time like a bunch of wires all connected.
⚡ Change one = everything gets affected.
Now look at this mess you guys are in:
• Mini Sasuke → before massacre 😶
• Naruto & Sasuke → Chunin Exams 🥷
• Others → pre-Shippuden 👀
👉 All of them = dragged into ONE timeline
WHY?
Because of Karasuki (that turtle 🐢)
So what happens when you mix different timelines?
👉 BOOM 💥
You create a new, messed-up timeline
And now…
everything depends on this group fixing it 😌
(no pressure tho 😂)
Now about Hikaru—
He didn't just randomly walk in.
👉 He's basically a side effect of all this timeline chaos.
And here's the fun part:
❌ He is NOT here for Naruto & gang
❌ He DOESN'T even know they exist here
Yeah 😈
His goal is something else entirely…
If things feel confusing right now—
GOOD 😏
That means you're exactly where you're supposed to be.
I'll explain everything slowly, don't worry.
And if your brain goes:
"bro what is happening 😭"
👉 COMMENTS EXIST. USE THEM.
I'm watching 👀
…Also—
You guys did notice Sasuke back in Chapter 4: A Familiar Lie Called Home, right?
If not… then I've got a small mission for you 😈
👉 Go back. Find him.
Got you—short, sharp, and punchy like a real shonen teaser ⚡
---
⚡ NEXT CHAPTER ⚡
The warning… was too late.
As Konoha rests in a false sense of peace,
a forgotten name begins to surface…
A 'friend' from the wrong time.
A presence that shouldn't exist.
And above it all—
"They have arrived."
Who… has arrived?
👉 Chapter 6 :A MAN THEY CALL HOKAGE… AND A FRIEND FROM THE WRONG TIME
SNEAK PEEK LINES 💬
"A conflict has been born"
"Well... it's actually quite heartening to hear that the world knows who I am"
---
—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
---