He made it home in less than a minute, silently thanking God for having moved out of his parents' house. Otherwise, he knew he would have had to answer a lot of questions from his mother and endure the calculating looks of his father. He packed everything he thought he might need into a backpack: civilian clothes, weapons, the first-aid kit, money… he even tucked away the gold Harika had given him as an amulet, which could now be useful for buying things in the other world. With great care, he picked up Harika's backpack and added it to his luggage.
Half an hour later, he met up with Naruto again, who had surprisingly changed into civilian clothes without needing to be reminded.
"And now what?" his friend asked, with a serious but curious expression. Naruto was incapable of saying no to an adventure, no matter how crazy it was. "Are we going to use one of those portals?"
"Yes. Temari used the closest one, so we'll have to move to another. The next closest is near the Fire Temple, but I don't trust using it… We'll use one near the border with the Land of Hot Water."
"And how are we supposed to leave Konoha without being stopped?"
"Very easy," Shikamaru smiled, without any real joy. "Summon one of your toads. We need it to leave Konoha on its own… feet, and then reverse-summon us."
"Uh…" Naruto muttered, stunned. "That could work."
"Almost no one pays attention to animals. If you summon a small toad, it'll go unnoticed easily. If that plan doesn't work, we'll move on to plan B."
"There's a plan B?"
"And plan N," he admitted. He had literally calculated fifteen different ways to leave Konoha without being discovered. "Either way, we're getting out of here to look for Harika. I swear to God."
"…You know, I'd never thought about how dangerous you can be when you have a goal in mind. I guess I should be glad we're friends, and not enemies."
Shikamaru let out a soft laugh, but he knew Naruto meant it. He was one of the few people who was starting to understand him… Until now, he had never had a reason to use his intelligence in a malicious way or against Konoha, but there was always a first time.
Plan A worked perfectly. They reappeared on the other side of the wall, hundreds of meters away, protected by the cover of gigantic trees. No one saw them, no one stopped them, no one prevented them from heading northeast. Shikamaru said nothing as he ran at a light but steady pace, conserving his strength, with Naruto following closely behind.
"And now what?" Naruto asked again, once he could no longer resist the urge to know what would happen next.
"We need to reach the portal as soon as possible. It won't take long before they realize we're not in Konoha. Once they do, they'll ask Ino, Chouji, and Sakura. Sakura won't know what to say, but my team will have to tell the truth."
"They'll know we left."
"Exactly."
"And they'll come after us."
"That's right. By then, with a bit of luck, we won't be here anymore."
"With a bit of luck?" Naruto asked, surprised.
"Well… some resistance would be logical, wouldn't it? Those portals can cause a lot of damage to both this world and Harika's. It would be stupid to think they aren't protected in some way."
"And yet Temari managed to use one to send Harika far away? What sense does that make?"
That was the same question he had been asking himself. What if it hadn't really been Temari? He was almost certain Harika was no longer in this dimension, but there was also a one percent chance that whoever had sent her away hadn't been Temari. What if it had been the Nexus Guardians? He felt a deep, hard-to-explain unease because, for the first time in his life, he doubted. Everything pointed to Temari, but what if he was pointing at her simply because he resented her? No. He had gone over it again and again. It was clear Temari was responsible for all of this, but the Guardians still worried him.
"We'd better not stop, then," Naruto said, cutting through his thoughts. He nodded. "We should get there in a day and a half."
They spent the rest of the journey in silence, except for the few times Naruto asked what they planned to do once they went through the portal. The truth was, even he didn't know. Harika had started teaching him English, but his knowledge was practically non-existent. She had told him that some people in her dimension spoke Japanese, so they could pretend to be tourists who only spoke Japanese. After that… they would see.
The portal near the border appeared almost out of nowhere. The crumbling structure was covered in vines, vegetation, and mould caused by the humid air coming from the nearby hot springs. It looked like a true ruin, and yet his hair stood on end the moment he saw it. Beside him, Naruto visibly shuddered, as if he were feeling the same thing.
"God. It looks abandoned. The kind of place rogue ninjas and drifters would use."
"And yet, despite its deterioration, it's still pristine in a way."
"Yeah… It's strange."
"No. I'm sure it's protected somehow."
"By what? I don't sense chakra or fuinjutsu."
"Honestly… I have a theory," he confessed. He had been mulling over Naruto's question for hours. "I think Temari was able to access the portal because she knew of its existence and its location."
"You think they only appear to those who are looking for them?"
"Exactly. That would explain why it doesn't have any visible protection. Why actively protect a place no one knows exists? That would be a waste of resources. It would also explain why the portals are marked on a map. Maybe it's so they don't forget where they are."
Naruto clapped his hands together, rubbing them as he looked more closely at the half-ruined temple in front of them.
"So? Do we go in or what?"
"Yes. We don't have time to waste."
The temple was clearly abandoned, but they managed to get in through the broken roof. The water had rotted the wood, but the stone had resisted the passage of time. The well was exposed, half-covered by rotten planks. He had already been looking for it, knowing how Harika had fallen into one of these weeks ago, so he stood beside it and looked down. It was dark. Even using chakra, he couldn't see anything. It was like a black hole.
Naruto stepped beside him, shuddering again.
"Is this it? Damn. It looks bottomless. Now what?"
"Let's look around. Harika told me she activated the first portal by accident. Maybe this one needs to be activated too."
"And doesn't the scroll say anything?"
"No."
"Maybe she didn't activate anything. Maybe it was just a coincidence. What if we throw something in?"
"No," he cut him off instantly, glaring at his friend. "What if we throw something in, it activates the portal, and then it closes, leaving us stuck here? We'd have wasted our time."
"Okay, okay. I get it."
In the end, despite searching the temple from top to bottom for clues, there was nothing resembling an activation mechanism. Naruto and Shikamaru returned to the starting point, staring down from the edge of the abyss. Almost as if scripted, they exchanged a nervous glance.
"Well… I guess there's no other option."
"On three?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes and grabbed Naruto by the shoulder. His friend's scream made him laugh as they fell into a wormhole and unexpectedly lost consciousness.
…
"Ugh…"
Shikamaru fought the urge to vomit as he tried to open his eyes. Naruto's whining sound snapped him awake. Everything spun, as if he'd been thrown into a washing machine, but even so, he smelled something different. He knew instantly they were no longer in that abandoned temple. The grass beneath his face was the second clue.
"Where the hell are we?" Naruto asked, probably sitting up, judging by the sound of his black-and-orange jacket.
"Ugh…" he repeated, finally opening his eyes. "No idea."
The first thing he saw was trees. More and more trees. He quickly glanced behind them, and that was when he saw what looked like the back of an abandoned temple. He focused his vision, and only then did he notice what appeared to be hundreds of Jizō statues. He suppressed a shiver when it felt as though all the statues were pointing in their direction, some covered in moss and flowers, as if they had been forgotten for years.
"Look, Shikamaru."
He turned again and saw Naruto pointing at what looked like decorative carvings along the frames. Fuinjutsu? It was obvious this place was one of the portals mentioned in the scroll. They had made it.
"Don't you think it was too easy?" he asked, unable to stop himself. "Anyone could've ended up here."
"Well, didn't you say no one knows where these temples are?"
"It certainly looks that way, but… I don't know. Why would they leave these portals unprotected?"
Suddenly, he wondered whether the monks of the temple even knew the portals existed. The Nexus Guardians might have been a sect or cult, keepers of a secret that had faded into obscurity over time. Could it be… that the portals were unprotected simply because no one knew about them? If so, that would explain why the temples were abandoned and in ruins, and why anyone could access them just by knowing their location; how Temari had been able to reach one and send Harika away. What it didn't explain was how the hell Harika had discovered the temple in the first place. Why had Harika been able to access it? Could it be that her magic could bypass the strange barriers protecting the temples? Everything pointed to the protections not being chakra-based, but magic-based instead. That would explain why neither Naruto nor he had been able to sense any barrier.
"At least there's no one here. We got lucky."
"I don't think luck had anything to do with it," Shikamaru admitted, standing up and brushing the dust off his black pants. "I think it's deliberate."
He looked at the temple, realizing it was still there, and had a gut feeling. He went inside, searching for another portal. Naruto followed him with a curious, interested expression, watching as he moved slowly, studying the walls. He stepped carefully, searching for what Harika had found by accident, when he heard a hollow sound. Shikamaru and Naruto exchanged a look. One punch was enough to uncover the well.
"Another portal?"
"But this one goes back."
"What the hell? Why is it here? How did you know?"
"This confirms my original theory. I think each portal can be used twice, and then it disappears to recharge. The scroll Harika found explains it briefly. Harika told me that the first time she fell into our dimension, she appeared in the middle of nowhere, meaning…"
"Meaning the temple she fell through… disappeared?"
"I think so. If we used this portal, and my theory is correct, this temple should disappear for a while until it recharges."
"But that's great! Now we have a way back!"
"Exactly."
"Now we just have to find her."
"That's going to be the hardest part. First, I want to try something," he said, pulling out his coin. He had to concentrate to write to Harika, ignoring his friend's curious stare.
"Is that…?"
"An invention by one of Harika's friends. With this coin, I can talk to her."
"So… we're going to wait for her to reply?"
"Yes."
But one hour passed, then another, and then another. They waited impatiently while exploring the surroundings, watching people pass near the damn temple. They didn't see them, but they also didn't make themselves visible. Shikamaru watched the dirt road leading to a small town with a frown.
"Anything?" Naruto asked, sighing.
"No. Don't be impatient."
"Patience has never been my thing."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, silently agreeing. They waited nearly ten hours, but the coin gave no response. Only when night fell did he rise from the stone wall, surrounded by eerie statues, and look at Naruto.
"Change of plans. We're going to look for her."
"Finally, some action!"
…
Japan. Aomori. Names he hadn't known hours ago. They had found a map on a wooden post at the edge of a forest. It was enough to make them stare at it for minutes, processing the fact that they were no longer in Konoha. He looked again at the gold coin, but nothing. There were too many theories as to why Harika wasn't replying, but he chose to trust that his girlfriend's spell had simply faded.
No one paid them any attention as they walked along a road, careful not to show their abilities in front of the dozens of public cameras—and others hidden—that monitored the population. It was a true nightmare. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any danger for a pair of ninjas in this dimension, so they settled for walking in search of a city with a larger map.
"Should we go to the library?" Naruto asked, pretending he wasn't completely blown away, just like him, as they watched cars, trains, and even those flying machines Harika had called airplanes.
It was still hard to believe how technologically advanced this society was. Japan, at least. Everything was so… bizarre. Every comparison with Konoha left him more surprised and confused than before. There were people everywhere, walking with their heads down at a fast pace, moving back and forth like automatons or ants. It was almost sad. It wasn't surprising that Harika had found it so easy to decide to stay in Konoha.
"Look, there it is."
The library, marked with a sign he could read and understand, was enormous. They had to stop for a moment to marvel at the iron, wood, and glass structure before grasping the sheer number of books inside. Books, not scrolls. He spotted what looked like computers turned on and approached one, Naruto following him.
"What are we looking for?" his friend asked quietly, glancing over his shoulder even though it wasn't necessary. Everyone was a civilian.
"Maps. Or maybe something that tells us where to find them."
"Couldn't we just ask someone?"
Shikamaru knew they could, but he was also curious about this technology that existed only in small doses in Konoha, yet was everywhere here, judging by the small handheld devices everyone carried inches from their bodies, as if they were extensions of their limbs.
"Look, it shows the map section," he said, easily using the library index. It was the most dynamic thing he had ever seen in a library. "But wait…"
"'Google' search?"
"I'm going to type maps."
Shikamaru and Naruto were stunned when they saw the search engine had access to hundreds of thousands of map entries. Ancient maps, fake maps, current maps, political maps, topographic maps…
"World map."
The world, ironically, came crashing down on him when he saw the sheer immensity of what he was witnessing. Japan was on the right side of the map, while Harika's home, according to what she had told him, was in Scotland. Nine thousand kilometres. Dear God. Naruto said nothing when he saw the same thing.
"What are we going to do now?"
"Now… I have to think."
They left the library after stealing a pocket-sized atlas without anyone noticing. They also stole some Muggle money, yen, so they could eat at a ramen restaurant Naruto had spotted. Shikamaru rolled his eyes while waiting for his bowl of noodles, ignoring his friend's delighted expression. He pulled out the atlas, ready to think through his massive problem.
He didn't know where Harika was, but most likely she had either gone back home or stayed in Japan, where she had used the first portal that led her to the Land of Fire.
"Think, Shikamaru… What would Harika have done?" he asked himself as he stared unfocused at the restaurant menus.
But no matter how much he thought, the options were the same. Suddenly, Naruto elbowed him hard in the ribs.
"Ouch," he complained, shooting him a lazy glare. "What's wrong with you?"
His friend nodded toward the television hanging in the corner of the kitchen. It was a weather news report. He barely noticed it, barely, until he saw the date and time in the bottom right corner of the screen. Time… was off. He slowly slurped his noodles, paying closer attention to the TV than ever, wondering how he hadn't realized it sooner. His mind raced, calculating what it meant, and… the conclusions filled him with momentary hope.
"Time passes differently in this dimension," he signalled to Naruto using Konoha's secret codes. He nodded. "Time moves faster in Konoha, so Harika must have arrived in this dimension relatively recently."
"Does that mean she could still be somewhere nearby?"
Shikamaru stopped gesturing. Harika could travel instantly with her powers, so the fact that she had 'fallen' into this dimension recently didn't really mean anything. He was back to square one. Japan or Scotland? He didn't want to rush to her home only to discover she had been waiting for them somewhere in Japan. But he also didn't want to stay in Japan doing nothing while his girlfriend might be waiting for him in Scotland. Still… if he thought about it coldly, and put himself in Harika's shoes, everything suggested she wouldn't stay home. She would investigate what had happened, probably after recruiting help from her friends. That was exactly what he had done, and Harika's modus operandi at Hogwarts.
"I think it'd be best to wait a little longer… According to the map, Scotland is several hours behind us. It's possible she hasn't replied because Harika is asleep," he finally said, realizing the distance between them. "If that's the case, it means she's at home."
"You think she went back home?"
"Yes. I think Harika would look for help from her friends. And her friends, Ron and Hermione, are in her home country. She can travel quickly, and I mean literally, from one country to another. Distance isn't a problem," he whispered as the waiter passed by. "That's why I'd wait a bit longer here. If the portals are on this island, Harika will eventually come back to investigate."
"Heh…" Naruto snorted. "She'll come back because she knows you're looking for her. I have no doubt about that."
They went to sleep in one of the many hotels and night cafés. No one batted an eye when they arrived at midnight with their backpacks. A single employee took their money without even asking for identification and let them in with a pair of metal cards bearing different numbers. Shikamaru went to sleep after hours of waiting, the coin in his hand. Harika gave no sign of life for many hours, but he allowed himself to rest when he remembered his friend's words. Harika knew he was looking for her. It was only a matter of time before they found each other again.