Chapter 26: Make like a Tree

And maybe, he reconsidered when faced with his best friend and a worryingly inquisitive look, he might be a tad too close. Minato was eyeing him like one might eye a particularly interesting puzzle, though with more than a smidge of friendly concern mixed in.

"I have a map," the ninja said, already pulling out a scroll from one of his vest pockets. "If you point out the general area—"

"I can't," Axel cut in, because of course he couldn't. He hated whenever this topic came up, how it reminded him in no uncertain terms just how far from him his family was: unreachable.

He'd actually been avoiding maps entirely, which was thankfully very easy if one didn't travel outside the village. Reading about world history and whatever tidbits he could on ninja magic felt like learning fantasy lore, but a map for a foreign world was just one step too far. Too real. He just didn't want to see the names of places he'd been—where he lived now—on a map that could never lead him home.

Minato set down his scroll on the desk between them, then leaned back in the chair he'd dragged over from the kitchen. Frowning slightly, worried, he considered his clearly agitated friend. "If you don't know any nearby towns, we could always try and narrow it down by what you remember of the topography."

"The what?"

"The topography," he repeated, unrolling and unfolding the map to its full size. "Like whether there were mountains nearby, or a forest. That sort of thing."

Axel kept his eyes up, not so much as glancing to the paper as he pretended to be thoroughly focused on fiddling with the cash register in front of him. "That won't help."

"Maybe it'll be difficult to find, but—"

"It won't help. München is…" He had to take a steadying breath. Even after a year, saying it out loud still hit hard. "It's gone now."

Paper shifted as Minato adjusted the map, and then he scooched around the desk so that they were sitting more or less on the same side. He was quiet for a moment, before gently saying, "I don't know what happened, but if what happened to you is tied to what happened to your town…"

"No, it— I don't even know…"

The bell hanging at the front door gave a chime, interrupting him and providing a welcome distraction. Two ninja came in, one that Axel didn't recognize—from the show or otherwise—and the other was one of his regular customers.

"Trust me, Sensei. This place is the best," Kondo assured. Given the now-chunin had been dropping by his shop almost since it had opened, he'd be one to know.

"Whatever you say." The unfamiliar probably-a-jonin gave a long-suffering sigh. "And I told you to stop calling me that."

Minato chuckled. "Once a teacher, always a teacher. There's no escape, Masuda-san."

"That's just troublesome," the customer grumbled. "Hello, Namikaze-san."

Honestly, Minato seems to know everyone. It's pretty ridiculous.

"Feel free to look around," Axel spoke up, wanting to make sure the new customer knew the ground rules before any more knives ended up in his ceiling. "But if you want to test throw, hit the log and not my walls please."

Masuda looked caught off guard for an instant, at least by ninja standards, as if he hadn't noticed there was somebody sitting behind the register. Then, quickly, he glanced to the walls and out the window to the log in question. There were patches on a few of the walls that still needed a coat of paint, and the log itself was studded with narrow holes. He shot Kondo a look.

The younger ninja held his hands up defensively. "Wasn't me." With a sly grin, he added, "And don't think I didn't notice that, there's no need to feel embarrassed. Blacksmith-san pretty much spooks everyone their first time."

"I'm not spooky!" Axel objected.

Three sets of raised brows met that remark.

"I'm not!"

"Not really 'spooky' I guess, but…" Kondo thought about it for a second, and said, "It's like if a tree noticed you were lost and gave you directions."

"…A tree?" Unsure how else to react to that description—they really all seemed to be in agreement—Axel just shook his head.

Minato leaned in and whispered, "It's your kekkei genkai."

"My—" He cut himself off, remembering in time. His friend assumed he had some ninja bloodline thing that made his chakra undetectable, which was a misunderstanding he was both grateful for and felt somewhat guilty about.

"Because of that, it feels like nothing's there to notice," Minato continued. "Then when you move or say something, well… it is very much like if a tree suddenly spoke up."

Being a tree was better than being some kind of undead at least, which had kind of been how he pictured it before; no chakra was like not having a pulse, as far as he understood, but he was definitely alive. Since nobody had ever really remarked on that to him, he'd assumed that non-ninja all tended to have low pulses, so to speak, and that his entire lack of chakra just blended in with the rest of the civilians.

At least this explains why it was so strangely easy for him to sneak up and startle freaking ninja.

"Well," Kondo rubbed his hands together, eagerly eyeing the kunai rack. "We came to shop, Sensei, so let's get to it!"

"I'm not—"

But it was too late for protest, as the chunin was already dragging his companion over to the shelves of throwing knives.

With his customers chatting and shopping and therefore no longer pulling his friend's attention away from the map, he needed a new distraction or topic before they just returned right back to their previous conversation.

So Axel pulled out his journal, deciding to buy time by jotting down some notes about his apparent tree-ness in the section about chakra. He had always seen chakra just as the craziness-justifier for the anime: basically a ninja version of technobabble, something to point to when something unbelievable happens on-screen. It was odd having it play a role in simple everyday life as well.

As he wrote, and with a distinct lack of subtlety, Minato nudged the map a few centimeters closer. Then another few. Busying himself with his journal apparently wasn't enough of a deterrent.

Closing the notebook, Axel sighed. "Minato…"

"I just want to know."

They were speaking with hushed voices now, so that the customers couldn't easily listen in on their conversation. Honestly, though, Axel wished they just weren't speaking at all, he really didn't want to talk about this… Yet he had to say something, had to tell him that there was no use looking for somewhere that didn't exist.

Even still, it took him a long moment to get the words to come.

"It won't be on your map," he managed, looking off to the side.

"I know."

His attention jerked back to his ninja friend, startled and alarmed. "What?"

Minato was looking down at the map, tracing some of the lines with one hand. "It's not on any of the maps I've checked, anyway." He shrugged. "That's why I'm trying to think of another way we can find it."

Oh. That's what he meant.

He swallowed, throat dry. "I can't go back. They're out of reach."

"Even if the town is gone—"

With deliberate slowness, Axel set down his notebook. He'd written a label on the front cover, and the German lettering made his heart twist with that now-year-old ache he tried to ignore.

"I can't go back," he repeated, a near whisper.

There was a chance. Maybe. Ninja magic could do a lot of unbelievable things, after all. And there was always the possibility, no matter how slim, that one day he'd simply wake up in a hospital bed, worried sister hovering then calling for his parents and a doctor because he was back—

But everyday he woke up here, in the same bed he'd fallen asleep in.

It was just an impossible dream.

If he let himself hope, he would never be able to open his eyes and face the day. He would never be able to keep moving forward, working toward whatever life he could make for himself here. It hurt to give up without even trying, but, well… he wasn't a ninja, with reality warping powers at his disposal.

He was just lost, and trying his best to keep going.

A comforting hand on his shoulder pulled him from his homesick thoughts, and he managed a weak smile that probably wasn't as reassuring as he wanted. "Thanks. I'm fine."

"You will be," Minato replied with enviable certainty. "We're here for you, Axel."

Though Axel didn't know it, his friend had seen that kind of heartbreak before. Kushina always set aside time every year to visit the small memorial for her village, after all, and as for Minato… All he had left of his own family was his name.

Minato knew: loss never really leaves, but it can heal. So for now, at least, he carefully began folding away his map. It wouldn't hurt to wait for his friend.

"Anyway," Axel said, clearing his throat and awkwardly trying to change the subject. "Have you ever thought about what you'll do?"

Minato glanced up, pausing as he rolled the map back up. "What do you mean?"

Relieved that the conversation had moved on, Axel shrugged. "What will you be in years from now."

The ninja had to process that sentence for a moment, filling in missing words. "You mean, like, what do I want to be doing in the future?"

"Yes, that."

Though he busied himself putting away the map, from his expression he was seriously considering the question. After a moment, he answered: "I've always wanted to be Hokage, to be able to protect everybody I care about."

Really, he should have seen that coming. But it was too late now, as the conversation had already veered right back into dangerous waters—though unknowingly, on his friend's part.

Axel had to bite his tongue to keep from saying anything, recalling animated scenes of gigantic orange tails sweeping through the air and a Hokage who gave everything he had to protect his home. That was hypothetically (hopefully) years from now, and by then he would have had time to thoroughly screw up the timeline. Maybe.

It wasn't sheer chance that had the Nine-Tails attack the village, Axel knew that much. What changes he might make in this world—and in the lives of his friends—may not spread to whatever megalomaniac originally dreamed up the attack in the first place.

Minato wasn't done, though. "Speaking more personally, though…" he flushed a light pink, probably thinking of a certain redhead. "I want to have a family."

"Your kid will be a menace," Axel said, and immediately wondered if maybe he shouldn't have.

But Minato just grinned, looking pleased. "You think so?"

Of course. Not only had he seen Naruto from the show, but now he knew both of that kid's parents: there was no way he wouldn't be a ball of energetic sunshine, and good luck to everyone in range.

"Es ist garantiert."

Taking that confirmation for what it was, even if he didn't really understand the words, Minato shrugged. He glanced out the window, about to say something else, and then—

"Hello, Blondie!"

"Gah!" Axel jolted, and in the process somehow managed to jam his notebook under the cash register. It was a good thing the map had been put away, or it probably would have been crumpled into a scrunched-up mess.

His sudden surprised yelp made both ninja browsing his wares startle, and Kondo, for one, was instantly armed and ready to defend the shopkeeper if need be. It was an unnecessary gesture, though still appreciated. The chunin relaxed a moment later, tucking his weapons away again and giving the unexpected visitor a slightly embarrassed nod before returning to his shopping.

Leaning in from the open front window, looking far too amused with himself, was Jiraiya. His white hair was a tangled mess—some of which appeared to be snagging on the rough wood of the log sign—and he was about halfway to being completely sopping wet.

"As jumpy as usual, I see," the sodden ninja cheerily remarked.

Axel rolled his eyes. He was well-aware that by this point, one might expect that he would be less startled by the tendencies of ninja to simply suddenly appear with no warning. But alas, the knowledge of a jump-scare actually does very little to lessen the surprise.

"You—" and virtually every other ninja, he added internally, "—do that on purpose, and you know it."

"Well, obviously!" Jiraiya leaned back dramatically, but the action was stopped abruptly; leashed by his own hair pulling painfully taut, still stuck on the log sign. With a few quiet curses, he set about untangling his snaggled white locks.

Axel was dealing with a snag of his own: his notebook had managed to slide perfectly between the feet on the register, and was now wedged under there pretty effectively.

"Besides," Jiraiya added, "we're just getting back at you!"

Though he had been distracted trying to free his notebook, that remark caught his attention. "What, you think I'm spooky too?"

"When you're quiet, at least. You're actually pretty sneaky—" he cut himself off, suddenly sending an almost anxious glance over his shoulder and down the street. "Ah, anyway, speaking of sneaking…"

Minato cocked an ear, listening carefully, then gave his teacher an unimpressed stare. "I take it that's why you're soaking wet, Jiraiya-sensei?"

He got only nervous laughter in reply.

Recalling some scenes from the anime… well. Axel only needed three guesses as to why the ninja appeared to have been dunked in water, and the first two don't count.

He could almost hear women shouting with righteous rage.

Wait a second. That wasn't just in his imagination; there were actually yells in the distance. And, after a moment listening, he realized that they were growing louder. A look to Minato got a nod of confirmation.

"No," said Axel, taking a guess at what was going on. "You can't hide here."

Jiraiya was working at de-snagging his hair, careful not to leave behind any white strands, but he could spare a hand to point right at the protesting civilian. "Exactly! That's why your respectable establishment is the perfect place to hide!"

"And despite your attempt," a new voice slipped in smoothly, somehow both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, "as always, you are embarrassingly easy to find."

A weight settled in his gut, that sly tone poking at his memory in the worst way possible. Shifting to look past Jiraiya, Axel spotted another ninja stalking up to the window, straight black hair stark against pale skin and white clothes.

And Axel did recognize him, but not from real life.

Oh, scheiße.

"Hey, Oro-chan—"

Holy crap, that nickname: emotional whiplash in two words.

"Never call me that."

"—You don't need to get involved," Jiraiya plowed on. He dramatically waved his hands, gesturing to the promise of freedom just down the road. "Let me simply vanish into the night, like the sun descending over the horizon."

"It's almost noon," Axel said automatically, his subconscious taking the wheels temporarily as his brain did it's best to keep his internal freak-out, well, internal.

"It's a simile," he said, waving it off. "No need to be picky about the details. The main thing is me vanishing, quick, so are you with me or not?"

The Snake Sannin crossed his arms, clearly resoundingly unimpressed by his comrade. "You're not vanishing anywhere."

Jiraiya scowled.

As for Axel, caught between them, well… He couldn't quite decide whether he should retreat from the possible squabble or burst out laughing like an insane person at the fact that apparently Jiraiya would teasingly call Orochimaru—freakin' Orochimaru!—a cutesy nickname like 'Oro-chan'. It was nearly too absurd to believe.

"Come on, Oro-chan, it's no big deal."

Serpentine eyes narrowed. "Don't call me that." Then he drew himself to his full height, somehow looking down on Jiraiya despite their height difference, and sneered. "And for your information, I am not here to see you punished for your degenerate ways. I am only here in hopes of keeping you from embarrassing our entire village."

All he really registered from that was how unexpectedly short Orochimaru actually was in real life. Well, he wasn't really short, per se, but he wasn't tall either. Axel had at least seven or eight centimeters on him, which he wouldn't have expected given how he was always presented as this looming figure in the anime.

Jiraiya looked suspicious. "Wait, and it's not to do with—?"

"No, it is not about—" Orochimaru pinched the bridge of his nose, and may have even counted to ten before continuing. "Jiraiya. Do you know what day it is?"

"…Tuesday?"

Dead silence.

"Well, it can't be your birthday. You never liked any of the parties I set up for you anyway." In a stage whisper, he added, "Icing just doesn't agree with him."

"Jiraiya."

As he watched the two highly-skilled and deadly ninja bicker—one teasing and one doing a very convincing job of being only annoyed by it—Axel found himself reevaluating some things.

"He's not as scary as I thought he'd be," he murmured absentmindedly.

Still scary, sure: he's still Orochimaru after all. But at the same time, it is technically more than twelve years before the first episodes of the show, so perhaps the snake ninja hadn't gone full crazy-evil quite yet and was still just average crazy…

And all three of them were giving him odd looks now.

"What?"

"You are a weird one, Blacksmith-san," Jiraiya said, leaning through the window to size him up. "I have it on good authority that Oro-chan can be quite menacing."

Axel frowned slightly, not entirely sure where that statement had come from, then his eyes widened with realization because he most certainly hadn't meant to say any of that out loud.

Distracted trying to recall exactly what he had muttered, Axel only barely noticed the annoyed glare the nickname earned. He didn't register the suddenly odd atmosphere at all until Kondo sat down on the floor with a thud, and it looked like the shelves were helping to keep Masuda from joining him. Even Minato looked slightly alarmed. All of this was a little weird, to be sure.

Jiraiya smacked his old teammate on the shoulder. "Oh cut that out, you can handle a little teasing," he scolded sternly. "You're bothering the customers. And poor Blondie's right here, be careful."

Though he didn't actually say anything in response, Orochimaru did raise a brow and gave a pointed look to the blond civilian in question. A civilian who looked perfectly unruffled by the sudden spike of killing intent that had just briefly filled the room. In fact, Axel just looked faintly confused—or perhaps amused—as to what they were talking about.

Minato, who had already been checking over his friend for any issues, was relieved and surprised when he found none. "Huh."

And now Axel's confusion was quickly changing to a cautious concern, faced with the interested stares of two powerful ninja and one worried friend (who also happened to be a powerful ninja, but that's beside the point). Even without the pressure of trying to keep some very important secrets, anyone faced with such a situation would be at least a little uneasy.

Jiraiya wasn't so bad to be around, to be fair. He was a good guy in the show—though perverse—and, as surprising as it had been to find out, the man was actually Minato's teacher. So, all around, probably trustworthy. To an extent, at least.

It was the other guy he had issue with, obviously. Orochimaru wasn't the only recurring villain in the show, of course, but he was the only one Axel had actually seen on-screen. The rest of what he knew was mostly hear-say from his sister.

But as a villain, Orochimaru had really left an impression.

Since they seemed to be expecting some sort of response—heaven help him, he had no idea what—he had to figure out something to say.

And he was drawing a complete mental blank.

"Hello?"

Yes, the perfect reply.

It worked well enough, at least, since Minato burst out laughing and Jiraiya had a funny sort of smirk on his face.

"No reaction at all. " Orochimaru simply looked interested, which was a tad worrying: he's definitely got the mad scientist schtick down to a tee. "I had wondered."

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Jiraiya accused. "That's dangerous, Oro-ch…imaru."

Good save.

"You could have seriously hurt the poor guy!"

He shrugged, unbothered. "But in the end, it did not."

"He's still a civilian," Minato protested. "Killing intent can be harmful to untrained—"

"That's real?" Axel blurted out, plainly astonished by that fact, and his stunned interruption startled his friend into another laughing fit.

Killing intent had come up in the show, of course, but he'd sort of assumed it was just artistic license to help add in extra drama and tension: nothing more than an excuse to use surreal effects or fake a death scene or whatever. Should have known better.

"Curious, but I suppose I don't have time for trivialities at the moment." Orochimaru turned his attention back to his still-wet teammate. "Jiraiya. You know that shadows cast by a tree always lead back to its roots."

It seemed like a really random thing to say, but the ninja blanched. "That's today? I thought that was Wednesday!" He quickly tugged the rest of his white hair free from the log sign, not caring if some strands got pulled out. "We gotta go!"

Orochimaru looked like he probably would be rolling his eyes at that if he wasn't… well, Orochimaru.

Hair free an instant later—and somehow even more of an absolute mess that usual—Jiraiya waved goodbye before both Sannin vanished in a swirl of leaves. Gone just as abruptly as they arrived, as is the manner of most ninja.

Some of the leaves actually got inside, and he wondered why ninja always seemed to shed greenery when doing their fast travel thing; he'd need to clean them up later. For the moment, though, Axel slumped back into his chair with relief. He really wished he'd get a few more minutes to brace himself before big-name ninja from the show just dropped in on his store like that.

He'd need to write down some details about the Snake Sannin now that he'd actually met him, just as soon as he got the darn notebook free from the register. Axel poked around under there for a moment, but didn't feel his journal; odd, he hadn't thought it was jammed that far.

Before he could get a better look, a noise drew his attention to the back of the store.

Kondo had slid all the way down until he was lying flat out on the floor, and there he let out a long gusting breath. "I thought I was gonna die."

"It was a bit alarming," Minato agreed, sending his civilian friend another worried glance.

Not sure what else to do, Axel just shrugged. "I'm fine." Much more quietly, he added, "I didn't notice."

"Still, maybe I should go get a medic. It can really mess up your chakra circulation—"

"Nein!" He hadn't meant to be so abrupt, but that was a very bad idea. For him, at least. "No, Minato, trust me. I'm fine."

He didn't look entirely satisfied with that, but he did seem to drop the hospital idea. "Well, at least let me get you some tea," he said, standing up and heading for the kitchen.

A hand waved at them from the floor, and Kondo asked, "Me too, please?"

Masuda smacked his hand back down, but he looked like he could use a cup too.

To be honest, Axel wasn't against the idea—Minato brewed really delicious tea—he just didn't like the idea of making his friend play host like that. It was his store, after all, so he should at least help get out the cups and stuff.

Before he could so much as get up, though, Minato turned and gave him a look. Jabbed a finger at him, then pointed to the chair. "You stay put, Axel."

And he swept away to the kitchen to brew them all some tea.

"Behüte mich Gott vor meinen Freunden," Axel joked to himself with an amused smile. He picked up one of the stray leaves and tossed it through the window. "Mit den Feinden will ich schon fertig werden."

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

I'm alive!
Sorry about the late updates (both here and for Under the Veil, which I'm still writing on at the moment). A combination of sickness, my final finals week, and graduation left me with few brain cells to spare. I still wrote, but not nearly enough to finish a chapter.

Made it through, though, and got my degree!

Translations:
"Es ist garantiert." = "It's guaranteed."
"Nein!" = "No!"
"Behüte mich Gott vor meinen Freunden, mit den Feinden will ich schon fertig werden." = "God preserve me from my friends, I can deal with my enemies."

With university behind me, I should have more time (and, more importantly, energy) to write and generally get my life in better order, so with any luck the next update with be on the 15th once more!
Thanks for your understanding, and thanks for reading!

Guest: Looking at Kakashi, Rin, and Obito's graduation years also call into question why they were on the same team in canon. And there are other wack things, like how Kakashi became a chunin at six, before they graduated, but could still participate in the exam with them.
Still, in this story Rin and Obito are still in the academy. Minato arranged for them to join his team to give his anti-social little student some friends his own age.

See ya on the flipside, everyone!