UTOPIA ━ [ naruto ]

.CHAPTER 5

in this confusing
place, I feel alone, sad and
confused as the world.

— ○ —

05 | f i v e.

"Nnghh, what..." Izumi mumbled. She exhaled carefully before fluttering her eyes open.

A lot of time seemed to have passed. The last thing she saw was Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan. She tried to register what was happening.

A strong pair of arms was around her. She looked up to see who it was. It was Tenma, carrying her and leaping through a forest. She looked over and saw Yukiko following just behind. They both seemed to be in a rush. It seemed like they were running away from someone.

It was exactly like the mission Izumi and her team went on several weeks ago.

Izumi was in utter confusion. She would ask what was going on, but she decided to wait till they reached somewhere safe. She decided to analyze the situation for now. She remembered the routes they took while returning home. She checked if Tenma and Yukiko took the same routes as before, but they didn't. This confused the Uchiha girl even more.

When the group of three reached their village at last, Izumi quickly hopped off of Tenma's arms.

"What— Izumi, you're doing good already?" He asked, a bit surprised.

"First tell me what on Earth is happening?!" She yelled.

Yukiko and Tenma were both shocked at their friend's unusual behavior. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary for them, then why did Izumi looks so stressed? Yukiko's eyes followed Izumi's hand to find out that the brunette had pinched herself so much that her arm had red marks now.

On the other hand, Izumi was desperately wishing that this was a dream. She already finished this mission with her teammates and already so much had happened after that. Suddenly why is she back here? It's as if she's back in the past. The worst thing was, everyone was okay with it. That means she's the only one who came back in the past.

But how?

"Izumi, calm down. Nothing happened. Why are you—"

Yukiko was cut off as the brunette winced and held her head. She fell on her knees, whimpering.

"Izumi?!" She went over to the said girl and held her, trying to understand what's wrong.

"Yuki... Could you please help me go home? And Tenma can report to the Hokage?" Izumi asked, looking up. Yukiko nodded and helped her up.

"Alright, I'll get going then. Be careful, Izumi, Yukiko." Tenma spoke and went away, heading to the Hokage's office. On the other hand, Yukiko took Izumi home.

Adding to Izumi's utter shock, they found out that Hazuki was at home. Hazuki never returned home before sundown. And now, there still were almost two hours left till then.

"M- Mother..?" Izumi asked, wide eyed, standing at the foyer.

Hazuki smiled warmly, then said, "Welcome back! Yukiko, come in!"

Yukiko returned the lady's cordial smile and said, "Ah, but I have to leave for the Hokage's office, Mrs. Uchiha!" She scratched the back of her neck. "Maybe some other day."