The Undesired Second Chance

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.