The afternoon sun hung low over the rooftops, casting long, honey-colored shadows across the busy market street. For a moment, the group of six stood frozen, their eyes locked on the mountain where the four stone faces watched over the village.
The blonde girl with the high ponytail, Ino, was still shaking with excitement, her face flushed pink. "We made it! We actually made it back!"
The boy with the high navy collar and the sharp, black hair crossed his arms, his black eyes narrowing as he looked at her. "Oi, what the hell are you saying?" he muttered, his voice cold and annoyed.
"How can you be so sure we're back in our time? We just walked through the gate. You can't just conclude that yet."
Ino turned to him, pointing a finger back up at the mountain with a huff.
"Idiot! Use your eyes!" she snapped. "Look at the faces. If there were more than four, it would mean we were stuck in the future. And if there were only three, it would mean we were way back in the past, long before we were even born! But look—it stops at the Fourth. That means we're right where we belong!"
Standing beside them, the boy in the dark green bodysuit suddenly punched the air, his thick, rectangular eyebrows twitching with emotion.
"This is it!" he cried out, his voice booming with energy. "The power of youth never fails! If we never give up and keep our hearts burning, we will always reach our destination!"
Sakura sighed loudly, rubbing her temples. "Lee-san, please.." she said, her voice tired.
"Stop it. The whole journey here, I've been exhausted just hearing about your 'youth' talk. Can we have five minutes of peace?"
But the boy in the loose orange sweater wasn't listening to the argument. His nose was twitching like a fox catching a scent in the wind.
His wild, blond spikes bounced as he suddenly turned his head toward a narrow side street. Without saying a word, he began to follow a path that seemed to be calling out to his soul.
Before he could take three steps, Sakura moved forward. She grabbed him firmly by the back of his collar, pulling him backward so hard he nearly tripped.
"What the hell are you doing Naruto?!" she shouted, her green eyes flashing. "We have to stay together!"
Naruto didn't even look back at her. He just kept sniffing the air, a wide, dazed grin spreading across his face. "Sakura-chan... do you smell it? It's the broth... the pork... it's Ichiraku, dattebayo!"
The change in the group was instant. Ino's eyes lit up, and even Lee struck a pose of pure joy. The tension of the long journey seemed to melt away at the mere thought of a hot bowl of noodles. They looked ready to run towards the smell, finally feeling like they were home.
The boy with the navy collar clicked his tongue, looking at them with pure irritation. He couldn't believe it. No one was listening to him. No one cared about the mission or the danger. They were all acting like starving children over a bowl of ramen.
Sakura stood there, still holding Naruto's collar, her face a mask of confusion. She wanted to be careful but as the familiar, salty scent of ramen drifted past her, even she felt her stomach give a quiet, traitorous growl.
The boy with the high navy collar suddenly snapped, his dark eyes flashing with pure annoyance.
"You idiots!" he said, his voice cutting through their excitement like a cold blade. "I had the stone face of the Fourth Hokage in my era too. Why are you guys so dumb? Just because his face is there doesn't mean we're 'home.'"
The group froze. Naruto's hand, which had been reaching towards the scent of ramen
stopped mid-air. He turned slowly, his blue eyes wide with a sudden, sinking silence.
"Don't tell me..." Naruto whispered, his voice trembling. "Are we really... in the wrong place...again?"
Ino went silent for a moment, her long blonde blowed shadowing her eyes. She didn't look at the mountain anymore. Instead, her head tilted slightly, her senses stretching out like invisible golden threads across the market.
Beside her, the girl with the red hair and black glasses, Karin, adjusted her glasses, her own body stiffening as she felt the weight of the air.
"No." Ino said softly, her voice losing its playful tone. "That can't be it. I've noticed some things."
She looked around the place. To a normal person, it was a peaceful village. But to a sensory type, the 'calm' was a thin veil. High on the rooftops, hidden behind the laundry lines and the water tanks, shadows were moving.
They weren't stopping the group. There was no direct interception. No one had jumped down with a kunai to demand who they were which was the biggest proof that they were known.
"The shinobi are on high alert." Ino whispered, her brow furrowing. "But..." She stopped, her breath catching.
The boy with the navy collar let out a sharp, mocking huff. "Glad your brain and your sensing skills finally started working." he taunted, crossing his arms.
Ino ignored the comment, her voice dropping even lower. "They aren't on alert for us."
"How?" the boy snapped, his eyes darting to her.
"Because," Ino continued, her mind racing. "If this was our time—the time after the exams—the village would be a mess. Naruto, you remember, right? Everything was... different."
Naruto nodded slowly, his expression turning serious.
"There was so much destruction." Ino whispered, her eyes clouded with the memory. "The attack... it left the village in ruins. But look around. Everything is perfect. Every roof is whole. Every street is clean because we were gone for many days and this mess is cleared...."
"This means that the time is running it ain't stopping for us and the attack of Sunna and Oto is finally ov... "
Suddenly, Sakura moved forward, her hand grabbing onto Ino's wrist so tightly that Ino gasped. She pulled Ino towards her, her green eyes wide with a terrifying, silent warning.
"Wait." Naruto said, his voice confused. "Did I hear that right? Did Ino just say something about the Sunna and the Oto?"
Sakura's face went pale. She leaned into Ino's ear, her voice a sharp, desperate whisper.
"You Ino-pig! Naruto doesn't know! He doesn't know that Sandaime-sama is dead or that Konoha was even attacked!"
Ino's eyes went wide as saucers. She immediately slammed both of her hands over her own mouth, her muffled gasp of shame echoing behind her palms. She had almost ruined everything.
The air in the square felt unnervingly still. The tension between Ino and Sakura was a tight string ready to snap, but it was Lee who finally stepped forward, his heavy, rectangular eyebrows furrowed in thought.
"Please wait." Lee said, his voice unusually quiet as he looked around the bustling market.
"There is another proof. Think about it. If we were truly in the distant past or a broken future, we would be treated as intruders. The moment we crossed the A-UN gate, we would have been pinned to the ground and captured."
He gestured vaguely at the crowd of villagers moving around them.
"But look..." he whispered. "No one is questioning us."
As he spoke, a fruit vendor adjusted a pile of apples just inches away from Naruto's shoulder. The man didn't even look up. He didn't ask for their identification; he didn't even stare at their strange, colorful clothes.
He simply continued his work, humming a low tune as if they were just part of the scenery.
"No one is stopping us." Lee continued, his eyes tracking a pair of Chunin walking towards them.
The two shinobi moved with a relaxed, steady pace. They passed the group without a single break in their conversation. One of them glanced at Sakura's bright pink hair and then back to his partner, laughing at a joke.
There was no hand on a kunai pouch, no suspicious glare, and no demand for their reason in Konoha. They simply walked on, their footsteps fading into the distance.
"And most importantly," Lee added, his voice dropping to a low voice of realization, "No one is reacting."
A group of playing children ran right through the center of their circle, chasing a red ball. A little girl bumped into Mini Sasuke, mumbled a quick, distracted 'sorry,' and kept running.
She didn't scream at the sight of a 'stranger.' She didn't run to her parents. To her, they weren't a threat—they were just people in the street.
The village was behaving as if it were a normal afternoon in the middle of a long, golden peace. The fear of invasion and the anxiety of Sunnagakure and Otogakure were nowhere to be found.
"It's too calm," Ino whispered, slowly lowering her hands from her mouth.
Mini Sasuke looked at the fruit vendor, then at the disappearing Chunin. His jaw tightened. The logic was sound, but it felt wrong.
In a world of shinobi, this much peace was the most suspicious thing of all.
'They aren't ignoring us because we belong.' he thought, his black eyes scanning the rooftops again. 'They're ignoring us because someone told them to.'
Karin, adjusted her frames, her fingers trembling slightly.
She hadn't spoken much since they arrived, but her eyes were darting toward the hidden figures on the rooftops with a sharp, analytical focus.
"Ino-san is right," Karin whispered, her voice steadying. "The shinobi who are on guard... they have no killing intent. There is no hatred directed toward us at all. It's strange. Usually, strangers with our chakra levels would be met with at least a little bit of hostility. But here? It's just... curiosity."
Naruto's jaw dropped, his blue eyes wide with genuine awe. "Woah! You can actually do that? You can feel what they're thinking?"
Karin gave a small, confident nod, a faint smirk playing on her lips. "It's part of my sensing skills. I can feel the 'color' of someone's heart. For example..." She shifted her gaze toward Mini Sasuke, her smirk widening.
"Mini Sasuke-kun is practically radiating a dark, stormy feeling of hatred right now. He's incredibly irritated."
Mini Sasuke stiffened, his arms crossing tighter over his chest. "No way," he countered sharply, his voice became deep. "That's impossible. You're just making things up."
He turned his head away quickly, staring intently at a nearby weapon shop display. But as the realization sank in— his private frustration was being broadcasted to the entire group—a deep, obvious red blush began to creep up his cheeks and over his ears. He bit his lip, refusing to look back at them.
Sakura leaned in closer, a mischievous light in her green eyes as she noticed the tips of his ears turning red.
"Heeeeee?" she teased, her voice trailing off into a playful sing-song. "Are you really feeling that irritated, Sasuke-kun? Is it because no one is listening to your big, serious warnings?"
The boy didn't answer. He just pulled his high collar up even further, trying to hide his face, while Naruto let out a loud, boisterous laugh that echoed down the street.
For a split second, the heavy mystery of the timeline was forgotten, replaced by the familiar, bickering chaos of the group.
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⚡ NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW ⚡
A warning is given…
but doubt doesn't stop desire.
Home feels close enough to touch—
and that is where the danger lies.
As choices begin to form…
will they stay together—
or follow what they want to believe?
👉 Chapter 4: A FAMILIAR LIE CALLED HOME
SNEAK PEEK LINES 💬
'No one... No one wears that crest now... '
'If this whole 'dream' turns into a nightmare.'
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—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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