I Will Become the Wind

CHAPTER 7 | Greener

It was quiet and dark when they made it back. Naruto's breath plumed out into the chilly air. The only thing nearby was the faint outline of a wood fence beside them, bare tree branches spilling over the top and swaying slightly in a soft breeze. Further on, he could just barely see the edges of a clean but narrow alleyway.

"Where did you drop us?" Naruto hissed in a whisper. "This doesn't look like the onsen."

"Er, I might have missed," Obito said in an undertone. "Give me a break, okay? This dimensional travel thing isn't as easy as it looks. And I was only at that place for a few seconds. It's easier to go toward somewhere familiar."

"Somewhere familiar... wait." Naruto craned his head up, but it was impossible to see anything over the tall fence. "Don't tell me we're in Konoha? How am I supposed to tell Ero-sennin what happened? Try it again. Further west."

"You try it again," Obito muttered. But he put his hand on Naruto's shoulder once more.

Several seconds passed in silence.

"Uh, Obito?"

Obito dropped his hand. "I... I can't. I think your stupid dimension broke my Kamui."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, voice growing higher in pitch.

"Not really, calm down." Obito sighed and scratched his head. "But I don't think I can use it again for a little while. Something like this happened after I went from the future timeline to my own in the same day. Man, I really need to work on that."

"When do you think you can use it again?"

"I just had to sleep it off last time. I should be able to move us to the onsen tomorrow. But what are we supposed to do until then?"

Naruto thought about it. "I guess it could be worse... at least we're in the village. I don't care if you stay over at my apartment. But what am I supposed to do about Ero-sennin? He'll think I got kidnapped by—well, you."

"You can summon the Toads, can't you?"

"Oh, duh."

Both of them froze at the sound of a slamming door in the distance, then a barking dog.

"For now, let's just get out of here," Naruto whispered. "I really don't want to have to explain this to Tsunade-baachan."

"The Slug Sannin?"

"Yeah. She's the Hokage. And now's not a good time for some unexplained person like you to show up."

They made their way carefully out of the alley and into the street. It was much darker here than at the onsen. The moon was masked by a heavy layer of dark clouds.

"Can you see where we are?" Obito asked, following behind him closely.

Naruto walked out further and looked up, twisting around to find the Monument to help orient them. There! He could just barely see the Shodai's face around the corner of a building. Judging by its position, they were...

Naruto felt a chill and crossed his arms tightly over his chest. No wonder he hadn't recognized this street immediately. This was one place people in Konoha rarely went.

"I think we're in the Uchiha district. Look," he murmured, pointing. Now that he was looking, the crest was plastered on the wall every few feet.

It made sense that Obito had been drawn to it. But this place was creepy enough in broad daylight. At a moment like this... "Let's just hurry and get out of here before someone catches us."

"And what, exactly, are you kids getting caught doing?"

They both jumped. Obito yelped, and Naruto took a startled step backward as a paper lamp flared into life right in front of them.