HybridTrash13: Yeah…but now it's fixed. Yay! Oh, haha sorry. Yeah…it'll be explained later on. Trust me, it will. It involved a lot of foreshadow. That vision she has will be further explored later on. Ahh, I see. Haha yeah. God person comes along, but honestly hopping dimensions and becoming an entirely new person can't happen without a god person. Yeah, war never does change and it's annoying. Oh yah, definitely fast. But after the Kannabi events, things will be much more thorough I promise. Haha, we can sort out the details of the crossover via PM if you really want to. Thanks for your review. :3

Shadow of God: That was an experiment. Oh, did you? I did put the original sentences next to the translation…

MickeyLOLgirl: YASSS!

It may seem quick but the first ten or so years of Haruto's life are skimmed for a very good reason. It's explanation will come in time, and is foreshadowed again during the Hiruzen and Haruto scene. Patience children lol

Recommended songs: Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Lorde.

Original word count: 5.4k~

Enjoy! :3

Chapter 5: Time

My conversation with Saturn had been shweet—short and sweet but kind of annoying…and by short I mean hours of nothing but cat and mouse. Fucking hours, what the actual fuck. But it had eons, give or take a few centuries, to practice the silver tongue. A superior one in a superior species was difficult to deal with; especially when they were immortal motherfuckers with no chill.

But smack in the middle of the conversation, Saturn brought up a very random point that actually stopped me completely.

"I am the god of time," it said.

I frowned at Saturn. "I know," I said. "But—"

"I can control it," Saturn pointed out. "Twist and warp it, at the very least. Have you ever wondered why one stretches out like spaghetti when being sucked into a black hole? That is my power outlet. Whatever goes in, doesn't leave, and that is because I am on the other side."

My jaw clicked shut, and I frowned at it. "Black holes form when stars collapsed in on itself," I pointed out. "Its gravity is so great, that it obliterates itself and becomes nothing but gravity."

Saturn smiled. "The Universe formed through evolution," it pointed out. "I shan't delve into that, but know this: I have lived a second longer than Everything, therefore I know far more than homo sapiens shall ever. Do you wish to know why?" It narrowed its icy blue eyes dangerously. "I hope you don't, little demon."

I swallowed and looked away nervously. I did, but Saturn was giving me a warning. After all, it has lived a second longer than Everything, and a second did a whole lot more then pass.

"Now, listen," Saturn continued. "Black holes are actually very strong. Their power is not provoked though. The last time I have used the power of black holes, time and gravity at full capacity…" Its frown became deep (for a god who has lived billions of years, which was barely even the crease of a brow). "I believe I created a Super Nova that formed six Galaxies worth of planets."

I stared in shock, eyes wide and brows shooting up to the sky. Six fucking Galaxies of planets? That was scary as fuck! "Are you shitting me?" I asked, choked up and energized from revelations. Saturn shook its head. "Which Galaxies…?"

"Milky Way, Andromeda, Whirlpool, Hoag's Object, Pinwheel and Black Eye," it listed. "There might be another, but it was a very long time ago. I have enough storage to last a few more million years, but even then…I must cram."

I paled. This was a lot to take in. Saturn, a second older than the Universe. Saturn, the creator of Galaxies. Saturn. Fucking Saturn. Besides—

"You're probably wondering why I can't just stop the Jūbi," Saturn said. It smiled in an almost sad way. "In time, you shall learn. For now, go to the mission assigning booth. The one you seek will not be around much longer if you wait."

I blinked and looked at the god, but it was gone and disappointment was all that remained in Saturn's place.

I huffed, and resumed to eating my dango. I stared up at the darkening sky, though, watching as a hawk circled overhead with the golden eyes of a death god I honestly felt all too familiar with.

I wasted no time in getting to the missionary station. It was very early in the morning, just border lining six, but the station was open all day, all night, all week. But it was quiet during these hours, and the assignment I hoped to get would be done under the radar.

I stopped, though, dead in my trail to through the halls when I turned around and saw someone standing there.

"Haruto, good. I was just about to send someone to find you."

I should've felt respect, but I felt nothing. The world didn't seem real. What was real, anyway? Definitely not me. There was an author of this world out there. "Hokage-sama," I said. "Why? How come?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked downcast, but it lasted only for a second. His skin wrinkled as he offered me a smile, and yet I heard that irritating buzz and the agitation of practiced emotional pain was rubbing me the wrong way. He didn't seemed to notice, too, and if he did he didn't speak up. His smile disappeared and turned into a dark look, and he stepped towards me. "Come, let's speak in my office," he said solemnly. He beckoned for me to follow, and I did.

When we entered his office a minute or so later, he sat down in his chair—and I in mine—and his downcast look returned. "You remember how your adoptive parents, Sakumo and Ren, were sent on a mission a week ago, right?"

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably, getting a very ominous feeling. "Yes…"

"Their mission failed."

I frowned. "Okay. So? They've failed before."

Hiruzen sighed softly. "Let me repeat myself," he said. "Their mission failed, Haruto."

I had to take a few seconds to sit back and think this through. Sakumo and Ren had been sent on a mission a week ago, give or take a day. It wasn't a surprise mission, that was for sure. It had been planned for weeks, possibly months. They should've said farewell. They should have said their goodbyes. And I remember experiencing feelings a week ago that were connected to saying "goodbye".

So why couldn't I remember the actual experience?

Goodbye…

I frowned.

"Goodbye, Haruto. I love you."

I felt like a limp human rock, slumping in my seat a little. My eyes burned with unshed tears as I looked at my Hokage—tongue heavy, throat dry, voice nonexistent…so I just put my hand over my mouth, my elbow resting on the arm of the chair and my red messy hair hanging around my face. I continued to stare straight into Hiruzen's dark grey eyes, the both of us bathing in the deathly silence.

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair as well, breaking the eye contact. "I—"

I just waved my hand dismissively, letting a smile stretch across my face. "I don't want apologies," I said. Hiruzen stared at me, unsure of what to think or do. His mouth twisted in a contemplative way, his thoughts rather evident. "It's fine, Hokage-sama…"

He nodded a little. "I have my doubts," he said.

"I noticed," I grumbled. I sighed and straightened myself up. This hasn't been the first time I've lost people in such a way. I've played some extremely dangerous games in my former life, and a lot of them cost lives. "H-how did it happen…?"

Hiruzen scanned me in silence, looking in my eyes and probably searching for something that wasn't there. "Their mission was to sneak around the front lines of Iwa and target their campsite in Kusa," he said. "Along with the six squads under their command, they were ambushed. In total, there were five deaths and everyone was a causality. They returned just a few hours ago."

I blinked in surprise, wordless, staring down at the floor.

So.

Sakumo and Ren are dead.

I closed my dark eyes. Okay. They're dead.

They're dead.

Dead…

"May I be dismissed?"

"Of course."

I left the office quickly and quietly, disregarding everything around me. The buzzing was mind numbingly loud and gave me a headache, and the sympathy of a stranger was sent towards me from the distance. That irritated me.

These events wouldn't set me back. The last time a death pushed me to the edge, it killed my relationship partner. The fear of experiencing that pain again would be too much, and I knew that I would fall over the edge if I let it happen.

There was no time to grieve. Not in a war.

I'm going to Kannabi no matter what happens.

But I needed to get my priorities straight with the event. First, I had to break the news to Kakashi and Obito. I planned to remain there for them, but I would grieve. Not actually, I'm a terrible griever (because it's accomplished in such a dark way; I basically go mute, shut myself off from everything and go kamikaze in a dangerously mellow way).

After Kakashi and Obito got a mission as a distraction, I'd slither my way around (maybe). I knew for sure that Hiruzen would think I'm up to something, and would observe…he'd probably send someone after me, too, because people can't legally leave without consent. I planned on getting a solo mission that is in the general northern direction of the border.

"Onee-chan, are you okay?"

I stopped my thoughts and looked ahead of me. I was already in the compound. Damn, time flew. I didn't think I could memorize the route and walk it so subconsciously. Even my zori was kicked off already, what the shit. I spotted a short kid, and instantly I registered the fact that it was Obito. My jaw still felt like metal, so I just smiled and nodded.

He frowned at me. "You don't look okay."

I chuckled, walking up to him. I guided him into the main living room, where Kakashi was sharpening his kunai over a cover. The shrieking of the act was very loud, and to top it off with the buzzing and the anxiety, it wasn't very helpful. I glared. "Kakashi," I said (unsurprisingly) sharply. "Quit that so I can tell y'all why I don't look okay."

He instantly stopped and looked up at me. With narrowed eyes that gave nothing away, he shot a glance towards Obito. The dark haired, adorable idiot, however, could only shrug. Kakashi looked back at me again, his body language wary and his muscles gaining tension. He didn't say anything, he just pushed everything aside to safety with a frown and wide, worried eyes.

I pushed Obito to the couch and forced Kakashi to sit next to him, my face stoney and serious, because this was a serious matter. I was very disconnected to a lot of things. I couldn't make bonds very well at all, so hearing that Sakumo and Ren are dead didn't effect me in the long run. "Tou-san and kaa-san…" I started, knowing that the news had to broken slowly. "They went on a mission a week ago, remember?" They nodded. "They lead six squads to sneak past Iwa's front lines to bring down an Iwa campsite."

Obito frowned, and Kakashi's eyes widened a little bit more, obviously intrigued and somewhat scared.

I bit my lip to stop the smirk.

How cruel…how very, very cruel I am.

"They're dead."

I wasted little time as possible in keeping company with my brothers. The pain was barely there in the first place for me; therefore I had to do all the work. It was exhausting. When I lived my first life, I lived it doing nothing. I went to twelve-hour long shifts, but I often needed to get back to work on my own hours. I couldn't maintain love relationships, didn't want to nor did I need to, and I sure as hell didn't want kids.

The daily pressure of work was exciting. The results motivated me, made me happy, and even through the blood of the injured and mortally threatened, I held a good head. Dealing with death had been nothing new. It was something that happened often, but it's not like it should be a surprise. I had to be observant, focus on the vitals, watch where I put the needles and make sure that people are put to sleep properly.

It's because of my visual preciseness and observant skills that I could spot certain things in people.

Kakashi wasn't telling me or Obito, but he was crying himself to sleep every night. Obito never bothered to speak up about the nightmares he's been having. They were barely eating, sneaking the food to the trash or Ren's surviving wolf companions. It was easy to tell that they got choked up whenever they roamed the halls of the compound—and sometimes I heard Obito wheezing silently in his room when I check up on him.

The buzzing sound was low in pitch but high in frequency, and I often felt an estranged sense of gloominess, guilt and depression coming from Kakashi one day and Obito the other and both of the most days.

I sighed quietly as I decided to just push the dishes I was washing aside. I "gently" shoved them into the sink, and I swear some glass broke…but I couldn't care less, losing some dishes wasn't even a remote loss. The pitched shatter bothered me though, and it always will (just like cardiorespiratory and cardiovascular tracking devices do with their stupid beeping). I folded my arms across my growing chest of silly boobs, glaring at the sink that I was just barely able to tower over.

"Onee-chan, are you okay?" Obito called as he rushed into the kitchen. Kakashi dragged himself in after his brother.

My eyes narrowed. Everything was turning grey in color, again, and I did my best to snap out of it. Nothing worked, and everything was choppy in frames as I was looking at the sink.

…Kushina.

…

…Yes…Kushina. She could watch over them and cheer them up, since I seem to be doing a shit job at it. She always was good at that—liberation of self-blame, at least, and my two idiotic brothers were going through just that.

"Onee-chan," Obito said.

I huffed, the grey sight going away and my visual stability returning. I looked at my brothers and rushed up to them, roughly turning them around with an arm draped around their shoulders. We walked forward. "I'm taking your dumbasses to Kushina's," I said, which was responded with loud protests. "Shut up!" They stopped. "Thank you. She's going to watch you while I'm away on a mission, got it? You two may be shinobi but I don't trust you with the puppy and compound."

"But why Kushina of all people?" Obito grumbled.

I chuckled. "You two obviously need uplifting spirits around you," I pointed out. "I'm not very good at that. I've noticed just how bad you two have been taking it and if it continues, you guys might as well become vengeful hell hounds." They went silent. I smiled at them, and we stopped walking. "Now, go pack your bags for at least a week. I might be gone longer, though, so be at least prepared enough for that."

"Where will you be going?" Kakashi asked.

I grinned and pinched his cheek before pushing him ahead of me to avoid eye contact. "I dunno," I said, "but if I did, I'd tell you. I promise."

Kakashi looked back at me, frowning, but he nodded in spite of his border lined doubt. Obito frowned at me as well, but when I gave him a smile of reassurance, he followed his younger brother further down the hallway.

I sighed quietly when they were well out of earshot, rubbing the stump of a right ring finger I didn't have.

Apparently, something cut it off as it was amputated. I could tell. There was no evidence of the wound, and the night I lost it I couldn't recall a single thing. It happened three years ago, a week or so after I magically woke up from that medically enforced coma.

I felt grim when I thought about that. People always fall in comas after gaining some sort of internal neuro bleeding. I've monitored people who were put under before, and it kinda scared me as a lovely first impression.

With one last intake of breath, I turned around and left the hallway. I packed my own stuff, getting dressed in an appropriate manor for the mission I was taking to Kannabi.

And that included the special knives Kazue gave to me.

"A mission?"

I nodded.

"A solo mission?"

I nodded again.

Hiruzen sighed, waving his hand to silence the chūnin who obediently did so. "Haruto, why so soon?" he asked. "You don't seek revenge, do you?"

"Doing opium and heroine in one go would be smarter," I shot back, even though it wasn't true and it was extremely fatal to do heroine alone. "But I want to move out of the compound. To do that I need money, which is where the high-paying solo mission comes into play."

"I can't exactly afford to lose you, too, Haruto," Hiruzen pointed out. "If we carry out another high-risk, large-scale attack of a sort within the year, then we won't have enough shinobi—and we all know how that goes in the end."

My mouth twisted in discontent. A shortage of shinobi forces children onto the battlefield. Konoha, along with Kiri, have the highest rating of child ninja, with Suna backing the statistics up, and Kumo being the very last of the majorities. I was a result of a "shortage on shinobi", as were my brothers, my parents, my adoptive parents—hell, everyone in my class was either dead or broken, and most didn't reach their tenth year mark because of it. I was lucky.

So I dispelled the displeasure and gave a crooked smile. "I'm still standing where my former classmates aren't," I pointed out. I spread out my arms to show how I was. "Most of which are broken, dead or barely holding on."

Hiruzen scanned me, almost looking doubtful, and the buzzing was very quiet as the look flashed across his face. But then he sighed and pulled a scroll out, handing it over to me. I took it with a proud smile. "The Kusa daimyō is getting irritated and unhappy with the war being fought on his land," he stated. "He wants you to check over the lower to mid eastern border—from the Tenchi and Kannabi bridges—for any disasters or traces of shinobi. Spot any possibilities, and report them both to him and myself."

I nodded dutifully and bowed. "Yes sir," I said robotically. He gave me permissive dismissal, saying that it would be better to leave tonight to avoid being spotted. I was good at hiding in the night, apparently, but absolutely terrible when it came to the daylight hours.

But would that matter in a few days?

…

…probably not…

My small sack of a pathetic bag was packed. Only one extra shirt was in there, thin and sturdy. The rest of the room had been eaten up by the mass of bombs I borrowed from the Hatake compound. My daggers were within reach, and my kunai and shuriken stuffed in their own bags. I brought along a mask and a hooded cloak to keep my identity as anonymous as possible. A granted exit gave me time to slip them on, and soon enough, I was moving in trained silence.

The bombs were powerful; I could tell that much. Depending on how complex the markings looked and how much white space remained on the paper, the power would and could either match a C4—or a nuclear bomb. The bombs the Hatake made were about as strong as HMX, which has been considered a state-of-art military explosive. I've had my experiences with HMX explosives, though, so it wasn't like it was in the hands of a total novice.

Naturally, the guards had to stop me and check me out. A summons bat was sent into the night sky, and I was granted leave the instant it blended into the darkness. I took to the gloomy path for a few hours, but when the moon was high overhead, and when my feet ached, I branched off into the trees. I made sure to maintain a safe distance from the path, jumping from tree branch to tree branch and walking some.

The traveling was slow, and tiring, and disliked, but dealt with over the span of three days. Boredom makes me do stupid things; stomping through the forest after deer was one of them. I got lost a few times, but I got some venison. And a deer hide, which would make the nights outside in the forest a little less cold. I appreciated that.

(At one point or another, I had stopped and made a Kage Bushin).

I still did respect life, no matter how much I just couldn't understand a lot of things about it. What I've seen has made me appreciate it.

Already I could see the morning dew of a grassy meadow, the greens stretching out like a sea from the forests edge. I climbed a tree and started to parkour from tree branch to tree branch. I stayed light on my feet and slipped my hood and mask on, careful and sharp with my surroundings.

The tree trunks got thicker and larger, the branches suitably following as they getting longer and much more monstrous. But then the forest stopped, thinning out and turning into a bamboo forest. I jumped down and scanned my surroundings, blinking at the sticks. I couldn't see between them; it was too dark, and yet the sky was still bright blue. That kind of made me paranoid, but it was brushed off enough to keep me focused but not enough to soothe my nerves.

The world was terribly silent today. I didn't like it, it was unner—

I practically dove and hid in the bamboos when I felt someone walking in my direction. It was a shinobi, that much I can tell—they were injured and determined to get somewhere. I glared at the ground. I honestly couldn't care less about this discovery.

So I continued.

But I kept my distance from that injured person, agitated by the sheer buzz of determination and the detour. Even though the detour was longer and more troublesome to get through, it showed its convenience.

Iwa shinobi were patrolling.

I could sense their paranoia—taste it, hear it, see it. The buzzing was quiet and the frequency was choppy, and luckily it cut in and out enough to be ignored easily.

Most were small chūnin squads with a sole jōnin leading them. It was difficult to get through; where one man turned his back another was watching and therefore all eyes were on all matter. But there was that one second where they would pass each other, backs towards other backs, and it allowed me to briefly slip through.

I was honestly shocked. I'm not a stealth pro, but—

I looked over my shoulder. The colors became a faded grey version, and the images around me were choppy. Every time I moved my eyes, the frames of movement lagged and made my surroundings look like a chopped-up, shaky film.

But I could see.

And, not just see the bamboos—I mean, I could literally see through the cracks of the trees enough to spot patrols many yards away and my damned destination. My eyebrows shot up. I didn't know what it was, but as far as I could tell, it could make me see the unseeable. Where ever it came from was unknown—but it will be known, because as a chūnin strolled past me, I shot out, slit her throat and drug her into the bamboos.

I had seen her before I sensed her.

Answers will be attained. Saturn will point me in the right direction.

"Aiko?"

I looked up—and shot out, stabbed the man in his jugular and yanked him into the trees, blood spraying onto the littered floor before it could touch the path. My eyes became wide. Amazing. That was breathtakingly amazing, and that was a rare feeling to come across for me.

Well, half a squad down…one and half more to go.

I continued to creep through the bamboos, seeing before sensing and subconsciously processing before consciously realizing.

But then the bamboos disappeared, and the large towering skyscraper trees returning with the dignity of Kusa's home country.

The bridge was wide open. No Iwa shinobi were within sight but there were the few ninja hiding in the crevices of rocks, patiently waiting.

Rocks, aye? Well—avalanches weren't uncommon around here. The bridge stabilized its surrounding areas…but just barely, and any major deliberate disturbance would create an imbalance of weight. Rocks will become unstable enough and fall. I climbed a tree and overlooked the scenery keenly. I spotted three jōnin and one chūnin spread out and patrolling just underneath the bridge, and two more squads of the same numbers each taking their own sides of the damn thing.

I dropped back a little and pulled out three HMX-level bomb tags, dropping to the forest floor. I plastered it just in the right spot; it was perfectly placed between two roots, close to the ground and positioned so that the impact of the explosion would blow out the dirt. The other two tags were placed in the same way, and as I backed away—

The rumbling made my heart race. The smoke stung my eyes and poisoned my respiratory system. The flames were minimal, and the tree fell with a mighty loud groan. It hit the edge with a loud crack, shattering the earth and destroying rocks. The stability of the cavern was lost—and rocks started to chip away from the edge.

I grinned evilly in triumph, moving quickly and planting more bombs through the chaos and dangers. Many rocks and tree branches attempted to block my path, but I still had my strange secondary vision activated (or whatever the fuck it was) and could get out of the way before the rubble could land a hit. The supporting beams were wrapped in timed, geographically catastrophic bombs.

I had to stop for a second to admire my work, because god damn there were enough bombs to make fuckin…holy hell, Jesus Christ could probably feel it.

I barely made it to the bamboos. The Iwa ninja were still trying to help one another get free, futilely so, and attempting miserably to stop the avalanches. Who the hell did they think they were? This wasn't the Red Sea, they couldn't just stop it.

They even resorted to that voodoo chakra shit. But the bombs were chakra-sensitive, and everything was going kaboom.

Multiple times.

The force threw me and many trees back, even uprooting some of the smaller skyscraper trees. Fire and smoke decorated the skies and the ground, making everything charcoal and rubble.

I actually blacked out for a few minutes. When I woke up, that strange sight was no longer there, but the smoke and fires were and it was spreading devilishly fast.

I scrambled up. The Iwa ninja were all dead, burning and falling into the ravine. The trees were burning and the smoke was choking me. I coughed and backed away, my eyes watering up and making me shed tears. I backed away, with an acknowledged limp treated with arrogance, trying to run and failing to run and wanting to run.

The fire was monstrous. I felt bad for destroying the nature surrounding me…because what a gorgeous bamboo forest.

Too bad the forest was on the brink of being fuel. But I had to do it; I had to look over my shoulder. I saw the flames—the orange, hot flames were creeping up on me and the smoke was still thick. Irritation scratched at me, because why what the actual fuck what is this what even is fucking happening lordy-loo.

Salty ass fire.

A tree fell behind me, but since the damn forest was so fucking crowded it created a chain reaction. A line of trees collapsed onto one another, and it wasn't too much later that I had to jump out of the way from one wise ass tree that decided to fall over the path. With a loud grunt, I landed on my uninjured side. I was quick to get back up, and even quicker to start rushing again because friggin heck I should have thought this through.

"Lo stupido," I grumbled in Italian. I huffed, regretting it instantly curtesy of the smoke, and continued quickly.

I barely made it before another fucking shit stick fell in my path. It was burning like the Devil himself had touched it, and smoke was thick because of it. I looked at my other side—oh, nope, definitely no fire. Nu-huh. Totally clean, the orange was just part of the fucking scenery.

I growled in irritation, going at a diagonal direction, rushing around the burning shit stick and dodging all other fires.

"God, I hate Everything," I snarled to myself breathlessly. "I should've planned an escape properly—"

I shrieked when arms wrapped around my chest from literally nowhere. All the warning I had gotten was a fucking yellow flash and burst of chakra, but I couldn't fight the bastardo off because my stomach dropped, my eyes dilated and my heart skipped a beat. I choked on air from the sheer pressure of whatever the hell had just happened, collapsing on entirely new grounds. I unsheathed one of my daggers and looked up at the guy who just randomly grabbed me and (probably) teleported.

Acid trip gone wrong much.

But then I saw the headband of Konoha, and relaxed. A breath of relief escaped my tight and unhappy throat, which was followed by a cough and sniff, but it wasn't anything alarming.

"Haruto?!"

I blinked and looked up to the origin of voice. Uzumaki Kushina was kneeling over a heavily injured Hatake Sakumo (am I dead), her hands glowing green and her light blue eyes wide with shock. The green glow of Shoe-Sin yes Two-tsu (whatever the fuck it was called) snapped with chakra and disappeared abruptly, which made both eld man and youth woman flinch in surprise.

"S-sorry," Kushina quickly said.

I blinked again. "Kushina," I croaked. "…Is this the Pure Land?"

The Uzumaki frowned and stared. "What? No dattebane! We're sheltered right now," she said. "We heard a loud explosion, felt it as well, so Minato went out to see what happened. He saw you and got you."

"But tou-san's supposed to be dead, isn't he?" I pointed out monotonously. "His squad returned and reported that he died along with kaa-san."

Kushina went pale. "R-Ren did die…" she explained quietly. "Killed in action. We…we couldn't retrieve her body…Minato and I ordered our squads to go on ahead—because we wanted to find Sakumo. W-we did, as you can see."

I just blinked a third time and stared. But I did sigh loudly and rubbed my battered face with my dirty hands. "Oh my god…" I grumbled. "Obito and Kakashi are gonna be so happy."

Sakumo suddenly snapped out of whatever pain trance he had been in, looking at me with wide eyes. "Where are they? Where are your brothers?"

"Kushina's house," I replied. "Uhh…I think Mikoto is watching the place, right? She'll be checking up on them regardless."

Kushina nodded and gave me a half-assed glare. But she started up her Super Special Awesome Healing Jin-tsu and went back to patching up Sakumo.

"Haruto…right?"

I looked up at the guy who grabbed me. He had yellow-blonde hair, blue eyes and fairly tanned skin. He wore the standard jōnin shinobi outfit for Konoha, but he had a belt around his waist that held three-pronged kunai. I blinked at him. "Yes, and you're Custard," I replied. He gave me an animated frown that I laughed at. "You're hair is too yellow. Please tell that it's—"

"Natural," Custard interrupted. "It's natural."

"Alright, Custard, whatever you say."

Custard glared. "Can you tell us what happened?" he asked. "A forest fire just doesn't happen like that."

"Well, I was doing a mission patrol thingy," I explained, feeling too fatigued to care about professionalism. The lack of oxygen made me delirious and the fact that I wasn't getting the oxygen I needed made me worse. "I had to report any Iwa ninja I saw in between the Kannabi and Tenchi bridge. Uhh…didn't work out."

Custard rolled his pretty boy blue eyes. "We noticed."

"Hey! Don't interrupt me. That's rude. I'm telling you what happened! Now shut up and listen—or do you want to hear another story? Because I have damn amazing stories to tell that involves pancakes and syrup and w—"

"Just continue…please…"

I grinned, but then it went away. "I got bombs for getaway reasons—since, y'know…emergencies," I continued, "and clearly I wasn't paying attention to the bombs I was using. Nor did I mind the quantities. But! To justify it, there were at least five complete squads full of chūnin and jōnin. I'm honestly shocked that I'm still standing here…well, not standing but you get the point. But because of all the chaos and desperation I almost pulled a kamikaze move and I may or may not have completely destroyed Kannabi—"

"What?!"

These things may seem skimmed, really, but it's being rushed BY someone IN the story. Keep this in mind…?

After the next chapter (trust me) events will be much more thorough. I promise.