Kaito waltzed around the mysterious beach aimlessly. All of the people there seemed friendly enough, and the weather was beautiful too, but the same could be said for the last time this had happened to him as well. His mind drifted back to when he, along with the Kazekage, Yusuke, and Sebastian had all been transported to the Eastertide Fairgrounds out of nowhere.

That place, for what it was worth, had been full of friendly faces and beautiful sights as well, but there was also the cataclysmic and dimension-shattering danger that was afoot there. Who could say that it wasn't the same case with this "Mikadzuki Beach"?

Kaito wouldn't allow the thought to drift away from him, and he kept a constant guard about himself, but the boy had been walking around for a few hours now after having helped out another Sunagakure shinobi, Blades, with lifeguard duty. The task had been a demanding one, and despite the fact that the sun was just now starting to set upon the horizon, the air was still rather humid.

'Guess I should find a place to relax for a bit...' Out of nowhere, the young lad's stomach growled loudly, indicating its need for sustenance. 'And grab a bite to eat while I'm at it...'

The Uchiha followed his gut instinct, which led him to a small seaside eatery. He took a seat in one of the booths and looked at the menu for a moment before a waiter came up to him and asked what his meal would be. Kaito kept it relatively simple; a cod with a side of rice and soy sauce. The waiter would nod as he wrote down Kaito's request before walking away into the back of the building to have the chefs prepare the meal.

Hailing from the fact that it was directly on the beach itself, the place mainly sold seafood. This didn't bother Kaito, however. He would eat just about anything he could get his hands on as long as it was healthy enough, and despite the fact that he no longer specialized in Taijutsu, he still felt the need to keep up a good physical and mental regiment of training to keep himself in tiptop shape.

The boy had been lacking when it came to the later regiment, sadly.

The fact that who he believed to have been his birth parents were murdered, the fact that he had been adopted by them, all of it. It had put a mental strain upon him, and one that cut deep. He felt that it all stemmed from his association with a particular Genin; one who had fled the village of Sunagakure for reasons unknown to the young Uchiha himself.

They too had sent him a letter as of late, asking that the two of them meet in the rural Rice Country, and Kaito had no idea how to feel about all of it.

On one hand, this particular Genin had been the one to show young Kaito the ropes of the shinobi world. They had taken him under their wing, and Kaito couldn't help but feel as though they had grown close to each other during the short amount of time they spent together.

On the other hand, they had fled the village. The letter he received confirmed that much. But why? Why did they feel the need to go as far as to being branded a missing-nin and putting a very much sought-after bounty upon their head?

'Why didn't he tell me, at least?'

As Kaito awaited his food, he would remove the payment from his wallet. He also removed something else from it; a battered old card. It had a few scratches and cuts on it, but it was easy enough to read the bold words printed on the front of it; "Wind Demon's Guild V.I.P". Even as the boy's steaming hot food arrived at the table along with a pitcher of water and a glass, Kaito kept his focus on the card that he had sat upon the face of the table, looking down on it and wondering how much different life could be for him in that moment should things had turned out differently...

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The food that Kaito had ordered arrived in quick haste; a testament to the establishment's fantastic hospitality. He would remove some ryō from his wallet before placing it on the table and replacing the wallet back into the pocket of his pants. He still kept the membership card out upon the table and observed it as he let the fresh food before him simmer freshly.

He eyed the card for a few more moments before he felt a rather familiar chakra begin to walk toward him. He didn't think much of it, as when he had been previously transported to the Eastertide Fairgrounds he had come across many other familiar faces. He would continue to examine the card, taking a bite of the cod he ordered as he did so, but when the familiar chakra stood to be just outside of three meters away from him and the person behind the signature murmured his name, Kaito couldn't help but sigh.

"You called it the death bubble that night..." Kaito replied, answering the other boy's question in a way that only the two of them would understand if it was who he thought it was. "Should an enemy enter within that circle, a total of six meters in diameter around yourself, you can almost be assured a quick death."

He would close his eyes for a moment, allowing both of his eyes to take the form of their respective Mangekyō Sharingan behind his eyelids.

"I am not your enemy, so you can sit with me if you'd like to, but I am not the Kaito that you once knew." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I am, however, the Kaito that you seek..." Kaito would open his eyes before slowly turning his head to face the familiar person who stood before him. "Arantima... My dearest friend..."

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Kaito listened intently to Arantima's words as the older boy entered into the metaphorical bubble and sat down with him at the booth. He really hadn't seemed to have changed all that much in comparison to Kaito himself, which Kaito was thankful for.

It would mean that Arantima would be easy to talk with and to explain this to.

"So much has changed, Tima..." The Uchiha said with a sigh, resting his arms upon the face of the table and crossing them above each other. "Those bounty hunters who were looking for you stopped by my place a little over a month ago." Kaito's gaze looked upwards directly into Arantima's eyes, and he deactivated his Sharingan to let him know that he was not to be taken as a threat. "They killed my parents because they were looking for the both of us."

Beginning to shake lightly, Kaito allowed himself to sigh before taking a sip of his water.

"Shit happens though. It's not your fault or anyone's really. But it helped me to realize my true lineage; that of Uchiha blood, thus explaining that Sharingan of mine. Turns out that I was adopted by my Inuzuka parents shortly after I was born. Other than that things have been relatively normal back home." Kaito allowed a moment for Arantima to address anything that he had laid out in his words. After a while, Kaito would continue to speak. "But enough about me. You said that you were forced to flee from the village?"

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Kaito allowed a stoic look to sit upon his face as he waited to hear what Arantima had to say.

What reason did the former Genin have for leaving Sunagakure?

The silver-haired boy spoke with a hint of shakiness in his voice, but as he went on, his demeanor only got progressively worse. It would cultivate in tears exiting from his eyes of amber, and Kaito lowered his eyes when Arantima finished his reasoning. He knew that it all must have been extremely hard for his friend and the former Kazekage. He could only imagine what it was they had gone through.

He could understand the current Kazekage's wishes of wanting to remove Mizu's memories. It wasn't often that Kage who had retired to travel the world, as they more often than not carried their respective village's most top secret and sensitive information, but on the other hand he did not know the full spectrum of the story. Perhaps Lord Third had been entirely too brash, especially to hold one of the village's more prosperous shinobi captive in light of Mizu's contempt of his wishes.

Kaito sighed empathetically as he reached over the table and placed a hand upon his best friend's shoulder comfortingly. He would look Arantima in the eyes; his own emerald-green eyes taking precedence over his Sharingan as he addressed the other man.

"You and Lady Second are away from all of that now, Tima..." Kaito said with a reassuring smile. "That letter you sent... It was delivered from the Water Country. I'm not sure if you are there or somewhere else in the world, but you covered your tracks well." Kaito readjusted himself into his half of the booth. "I don't think that anyone would be able to find you, but I would advise keeping a low profile wherever you may be."

Deep down Kaito knew that someday a world of politics would await him should he become the Kazekage, and he would potentially have to deal with situations such as this at that time. But those situations lay for him in a future that may or may not even happen. All he could do now was be there for his old friend and to lend an empathetic and helping hand.

"I appreciate you telling me. At least now I can lay that mystery down to rest. I swear to not betray your honesty and trust, and I'll take the knowledge of this meeting to the grave with me." Kaito said, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table before him before doing so. He would smile sincerely at Arantima for a moment, reminiscing on the good times the two of them had before real life came in and took it all away. After a moment he would stand up to his feet and stretch. "Hopefully the next time we meet I'll be the Kazekage and the two of us can share some stories over tea. In the meantime though I've really gotta get going. Oh! I've got knowledge of a Space-Time technique. It allows users to link our Chakras' in order to send messages back and forth to each other." Kaito withdrew his Jutsu Encyclopedia from his item pouch and opened it to the particular technique. It was called the "Far Sending Technique", and as soon as he found it, he placed the book delicately upon the table in front of Arantima.

"If you're willing to learn it and create a link between us, well then I'm more than happy to do so as well. "

Kaito retracted the book when Arantima was done with it and put it back in his pouch before he outstretched his arm to Arantima for a handshake.

"I'm going to miss you, my friend."

Kaito would await for Arantima to reply, and after the older boy did so and whether they accepted the offer of the handshake or not, Kaito would withdraw from the restaurant and return to the cabin he was staying at during his time at Mikadzuki Beach. A tear escaped from the duct in his eye, but it would not be of sadness. No. This was a tear of happiness in knowing that his best friend was safe and sound despite all of what was going on in the world...

[TOPIC EXIT]

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