[ video ]

[couragetodare]

-d Tsuchikage is gonna to pitch a fit if I miss that meeting. So will Shikamaru.

...Is the date on this thing right? That can't be right.

[Have a sheepish Naruto. A sheepish twenty-seven year old Naruto who looks almost the same except that his face has become more angular, mature and there are faint beginnings of laughter lines around his eyes

Comments

[sonvisage]

Hello, Naruto.

How long have you been gone?

[couragetodare]

Hello Lust. [Warmly.] First answer was gonna be: not long. But it's been about ten years, give or take. Time flies, huh?

... please don't tell me you've been here all that time. [Quiet concern.]

[sonvisage]

Ten years.

I have. But. [A little sigh.] As time has passed here, I've only been here ...weeks.

Some of ...us [Us?] haven't been affected. What that means, I can't say.

[Smiling a little]

But you look well. Your ten years have been good ones?

[couragetodare]

Weeks? [He would ask how it's possible but time passing differently in different worlds is not uncommon. It's just really weird. He's silent for a while.] Lust. When was the last time you spoke to me, here. Can you tell me?

[He glad to see her smile. Still damn taken by it.] They've been good. [A smile in return.] I've been lucky.

I did miss this place, sometimes.

[ voice ]

[lonestray]

Naruto Uzumaki.

Or...[A light, airy sound of amusement] perhaps you are addressed differently, now. 'Hokage', was it? [Not that he knows what it means but from his words, he can tell it's a title of some sort. He is a commander of some sort. How fitting.]

It sounds as if you've been well.

[video]

[couragetodare]

[Naruto laughs. A voice he knows and one he is glad to hear.] You know, it sounds like you haven't been doing too bad either. How've you been, Scar?

[His smile is bordering mischievous.] Hokage to some, Naruto to my friends. So how about you just call me Naruto?

[video]

[lonestray]

[He switches to video as Naruto responds to him with it. The man on the screen looks mostly the same--a little older, perhaps, but not by much. The noticeable difference is that he looks quite a bit more relaxed than he used to, peaceful. Maybe even a little happy.]

Mm. I've been...well.

[Friends...he doesn't flinch this time, but looks distant for a moment before a soft 'heh' sound escapes.]

Very well, then...Naruto.

[video]

[couragetodare]

[The difference in Scar is obvious, to Naruto at least, his eyebrows shoot up.] You look well. I'm glad.

This is strange. [Quietly. Because it is!] Have you been here, or did you go home? [For some reason he is sure that Scar went home.]

Thanks. [Ruefully.] 'Hokage-sama' still weirds me out a little.

[Voice]

[gentlest_fist]

...Naruto? Is that...really you?

[Naruto looks so much older...and Hokage? The poor girl's terribly confused.]

[video]

[couragetodare]

Hinata? [No hesitation, he'd know that voice anywhere. There is some surprise though.] It's me. Last time I checked anyway.

Hey. How long have you been here?

[Voice -> Video]

[gentlest_fist]

Yes, it's me. Um...wait a minute...

[Oops, she hasn't quite gotten used to using the Forge just yet. She switches to video after a moment of awkward fiddling, made more awkward by the person she's conversing with.

Finally, her blushing face appears.]

I've been here about a week.

And I'm sure you're you! It's just that you...you look different.

[Video]

[couragetodare]

[Despite the strangeness of the situation and the quiet worry that Hinata is here, Naruto is glad to see her face. Although he looks vaguely shocked for a moment.]

It's... definitely you. You look different too. [He stares. She's too young. Far too young. She's not quite the woman Naruto knows in his time. The head of the Hyuuga clan. He shakes his head.]

Eitherway, it's good to see, Hinata. [And he means it. But she looks like she's still a teenager. So weird. He realises he's staring.] Sorry, haha, it's just, you look younger! [A sheepish grin.] I wasn't expecting that.

What's your status? Are you all right? Where are you staying?

[video]

[firebornfidelis]

[Well, Riza can't help looking a little put out. Everyone she knows has somehow gone away and come back... different. But she somehow continues to be more surprised than anything.]

Naruto.

Do you know what's going on here?

[video]

[couragetodare]

Riza! [... little bit exuberant. He feels like no time has passed at all when he sees her and he grins widely.] I have no idea. [Still grinning, oddly enough.]

It seems like some of us went home, but that time hasn't passed in Anatole. It's not impossible but it's usually the other way around, time passing in Anatole while it seems to stop in our own worlds.

[And. Still ginning.] It's really good to see you.

[video]

[firebornfidelis]

[... well, he might look older, but he still seems very much himself.]

How long have you been gone? In your world? Here, I only saw you a day or two ago.

[video]

[couragetodare]

[The grin fades to a smile at that. But the smile sticks.]

Over a decade. [He pauses.] This must be strange for you. Has it really only been a few days here?

[Even knowing what he knows, it's just difficult to believe.]

[ Voice | Private ]

[prodigal_liar]

Hokage, hm?

[ Voice | Private ]

[couragetodare]

[Quiet chuckle.] Despite some understandable doubt from certain corners, yes.

Itachi. How are you?

[ Voice | Private ]

[prodigal_liar]

The same as always.

I suppose I ought to congratulate you. If I thought it would make a difference, I would ask you to regale me with the tale of how it came to be...

[But what difference could it make? Itachi is aware that this is all just... some other strange happening, like all the others that have occurred in Anatole. It will be over soon enough, and then these things will be put behind them. The Naruto he has come to know here will be the only relevant one.]

[ Voice | Private ]

[couragetodare]

I'm sorry to hear that. [Truthfully, he is.] But it's good to hear your voice again.

You should do as you see fit, Itachi. Congratulations aren't necessary. How it happened isn't important, but if you wanted to know I'd tell you.

[He falls silent.] Is there anything you do want to know?