The air shifted the moment they crossed into the ruins.
Not violently, not with an explosion of sound or force.
It was subtle, a slow draining of colour from the sky, a thinning of the light, like the world itself was holding its breath.
The landscape stretched before them in bleached gray stone, a horizon of broken pillars and collapsed corridors, the remnants of a civilisation that had long since been devoured by time.
Sasuke was the first to sense the wrongness. His steps slowed almost imperceptibly, his gaze sharpening as he scanned the empty expanse.
The muscles in his back tensed, a habit formed from a lifetime of battles fought in places where silence was never safe.
Y/n felt it too, a tightening in her chest, a prickle down her spine.
But she said nothing. She had learned by now that dangers which announce themselves loudly are rarely the ones to be feared.
It was the quiet ones, the ones that seep into your bones before you realise you're bleeding, that truly meant to kill you.
They pressed forward.
The stone archways loomed overhead, casting long shadows across their path. Their footsteps echoed too loudly, each scuff of their boots bouncing back from unseen corners, the sound warped by the unnatural stillness.
There were no birds here. No insects. No wind.
Y/n's hand hovered instinctively near her weapon pouch, fingers brushing the cool metal of a kunai.
Sasuke's Rinnegan flickered briefly, scanning for chakra signatures, but there were none. No traps. No visible enemies.
Only the growing sense that they were walking into something ancient, something that had been waiting for them long before they even existed.
The corridor narrowed.
Up ahead, the ground shimmered slightly, like heat haze rising from desert sand.
Sasuke slowed, raising a hand for Y/n to stop.
She obeyed, her eyes narrowing.
"What is it?" she asked in a low voice.
Sasuke didn't answer right away. His gaze was locked on the distortion ahead.
Then, without a word, he took a step forward.
The moment his foot touched the shimmering line, the world snapped.
Y/n barely had time to shout his name before the ground beneath her feet twisted violently.
Gravity flipped sideways. The ruins blurred into a whirl of stone and light.
And then everything went black.
Y/n stumbled, catching herself against what felt like solid ground, heart hammering against her ribs.
When she looked up, the ruins were gone.
The pale gray skies were gone.
She stood instead at the edge of Konoha's village square, bathed in soft morning sunlight, warm and golden.
Children ran past her, laughing. Merchants shouted prices. The smell of fresh dango floated through the air.
It should have felt comforting.
It didn't.
Because even before she turned her head, even before she saw them, she knew something was wrong.
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We're Different. | The Other Uchiha ✓ (Boruto)
FanfictionI was born an Uchiha. Raised by someone else. Forgotten by those who once knew me. In a village that never remembered my name, I chose to carve my own. A story about memory, belonging, and the pieces we can't erase, even when the world tries to. 𝐖�...
