Grey

7.

Out of breath, the men reached the house just as the sun was setting over the horizon.

The house was indeed still on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere ("He hates neighbors,") and here it was in shadow, creaky, dusty, and leaning slightly to the left. Catching their breath, the men looked at each other. "Here?" Minato asked.

"Here," the ninja confirmed. "Now be careful walking up there. He has traps that are invisible."

"What sort of traps aren't?" Minato wondered aloud.

Trippy Ninja led the way. Stepping over and under invisible wire, Minato followed suit. Suddenly, Trippy Ninja jumped five feet ahead of him. Minato did as well. "Fake grass." said Trippy Ninja. "Oh wow, I didn't even notice." Minato remarked. "Yes. He is exceptionally good at traps," replied the ninja, making it to the front door. He rapped on it a few times, "Open up!"

The masked ninja looked at the blue border, about six inches wide, with writing all over it, around the top of the outside walls, on each side. "Funny."

"What?"

"That's new," he nodded to this magic tape. "Open up!" he repeated, calling his arch-nemesis by name. "Or I shall break down this door!"

After a moment, Minato frowned, "I don't think he's listening."

"Yes. You're right. Hiiiii…..YAH!" Trippy Ninja broke down the door with one swift kick, never losing his balance. He lowered his leg, and when the dust cleared, the anteroom appeared empty.

The masked ninja stepped inside first. A brown dog attacked from the left. "AH! Doggy-chan! What are you doing here?"

Minato wasn't sure whether to aid or not—the masked man was soon able to shoo the fuzzy brown thing off. "It's only me!" said Trippy Ninja. "Where's your master?"

After no response save a muffled old bark sitting down now in the corner lethargically, the masked ninja looked around. "He must be here somewhere. This way," He led Minato to the kitchen. "Arch-nemesis…" called the ninja, "We are aware of your devious plan that collided our jutsu. Come out now mister, I'd like a word with you…!"

"Maybe the basement?"

"Yes," agreed the ninja. "I'll go ahead."

There were several traps to avoid going downstairs. Luckily, they were the same kind as outside except one smelly thing that erupted which Minato did not wish to guess the source of. But finally they arrived in the basement. It was cooler, damp, and grey looking. The same blue band around the house was down here too, a giant medallion of a seal in the center of a large room on the left hand side where Trippy Ninja's arch-nemesis stood, hunched over a work table filled with various instruments as if he were a carpenter, and not madman. "I hear you," he said. "Don't come any further." The masked ninja moved his hand, cautioning Minato to do as he told.

"Arch-nemesis," said the masked ninja, "Why are you being so mean?"

The man—the older ninja chuckled.

"We know all about your little experiment mister! Fess up!"

He turned. Minato saw an aging man, maybe once very handsome. Grey and black hair, over loose gray clothes. His teeth looked a little blue. His eyes were a dim hazel color. Blue and black paint were on his clothes. A bright blue sash was tied around his waist, like the magic tape in and around his home. His bare arms were tattooed with protective seals. He grinned a toothy smile—"It's been such a long time for you."

"Indeed," Trippy Ninja was not seeking small talk any longer—"You dastardly fiend, why have you upset the balance?"

"As I told you before. I wanted to."

"Do you know what damage you are causing?" said Minato.

"I do."

Trippy Ninja stepped forward calmly. "What exactly did you do, and how do we reverse it?"

Minato was slightly surprised the masked ninja wanted it outright. His arch-nemesis' smile was practically glued onto his face. "Your daughter is perfectly fine. I only sent you that bird to put my seal on the back of your shoulder in hopes your two jutsu would collide."

"BASTARD!" The masked man exclaimed. "You TRICKY little DEMON! First a seal on my ass—" Minato looked away, "Then a seal on my shoulder! What am I, a walking BILLBOARD?"

His arch-nemesis chuckled. "It was the only way."

Minato's eyes narrowed, "How do we reverse it?"

"The seal I put on your shoulder is one of a kind. You might say…it's all about the timing…" he smiled, turning to tinker with a sort of simple contraption. "I'm afraid it would be very hard to replicate. You need the anti-seal. I did not make one."

"You always make a back-up," Trippy declared boldly. "Where is it? In the dog? Under your clothes?"

The man mused. "Perhaps it is on your ass!"

"GAAAAHHHH!" Trippy shouted. "BASTARD!"

"Why us?" asked Minato suddenly. "What makes our jutsu…able to do this?"

"Fantastic question mister hokage," Minato suddenly knew where Trippy got his lack of respect for authority from. "Since you asked, I will answer. Your jutsu has the power to cover long distances. Time itself is…a very long distance so to speak. It is everywhere. The younger we are, the longer it seems to go. The older we get, well, it flies right on by. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure it would even work, but I needed to know. So. I placed a seal of time on you," Trippy growled, "To catch it. To distort it. And lo! It worked! I have disrupted the timeline. But my work is not complete yet. I did not get the harmonics correct. You must continue with your jutsu until the correct people are back with me."

"What if they never come back to you?" Minato objected, "What if you were really destined to live alone? What if—"

"What IF they could come BACK." The man glared.

"What if they weren't meant to," argued Minato. "There's nothing wrong with waiting for them in the afterlife."

"They will live with me NOW!" he shouted.

"No, they won't," enforced Trippy. "You cannot bend time to satisfy your happiness, it's wrong!"

The man turned away. "Stop this madness!" said Trippy. "Stop it right now!"

"Not in your life," replied the older man. Trippy charged at him, and all of a sudden froze for a moment in the middle of the room. He broke free, his arch nemesis dodged while some of his supplies fell off the counter with the force of Trippy banging into them angrily after the genjutsu spell, Minato was quick to have the man cornered, for he could have escaped under the stairs. His small contraption in hand, Minato saw him bang the top of it, and then all of a sudden, things got a little grey.

"…Where did he go…?"

It was an empty basement.

"He didn't go anywhere," said Trippy. "We're the ones that have gone, look at the room—there is no blue seal. He sent us to the other timeline—or another one at least."

"What…!" Minato looked, and all the blue and white seals were gone.

"We'll have to use our jutsu again to return."

"But he said that would continue degrading the timeline."

"Exactly," said Trippy unenthusiastically. "But I don't see any other way."

.