The Journey Home [Travel]

The travel from Sunagakure to Kaito's personal Kamui dimension had been a relatively easy, or at least much easier than he had anticipated it would be. He and Raidomaru swirled back into existence upon one of the innumerable gray pillars that dotted the place, and the Uchiha looked all around to ascertain his current situation.

"So this the other effect of my Kamui…"

Kaito's statement and thoughts were interrupted by a pulsating sensation radiating from his left eye socket.

"Gah!" He exclaimed, dropping down to one knee and pressing his hand over his eye. Raidomaru jumped out from the young man’s shirt, his tail between his legs and a worried expression upon his face.

"Kai!" The pup exclaimed, knowing full well that there would not be much of anything it could do to help out its master. "What's wrong?"

Kaito slowed his breathing, which had increased significantly thanks to the intense pain he felt. The aforementioned pain slowly began to subside, and Kaito removed his hand from his eye. It was covered in dark, crimson red blood, which Kaito recognized as a side effect of utilizing his Mangekyō Sharingan. His lips pressed together into a frown as the words that Uchiha, Kiyoharu spoke to him a few weeks prior entered into his mind.

‘I wouldn't use it in that stage too much though, they slowly go blind with use. There might be ways around that but I don't know…’

The Uchiha ignored Raidomaru’s question for a moment as he stood up to his feet. He removed a bottle of water and a towel from the backpack slung across his back, first dousing the water onto the towel and then raising the towel to his face and back down to his hands to wipe away the sticky blood.

"I’ll be fine, I just got to make sure I don’t overuse these Sharingan techniques, otherwise I can end up going blind." Kaito sat down upon one of the gray columns and sat Raidomaru into his lap. "With that being said, Raido, I think we may be stuck here for a bit." With a bit of anger on his tongue, Kaito punched the air before him. "There's just gotta be a way to stop myself from going blind…”

The Uchiha thought about it all for a few moments, sitting in place and as still as a statue while he did so. Not only was he thinking about ways to preserve his eyesight, however, but everything in general. He wanted to learn ever more about the mysterious origins of his clan, knowledge of which was not all that readily available in Sunagakure. He wanted to learn more about his birthplace of Konohagakure, but would he even be welcomed back there should Kirigakure still be in total control of the village? Then, he remembered back to the conversation that he had with Arantima during their time at Mikadzuki Beach, and what his dear friend had told him about their home of Sunagakure.

The young man gritted his teeth.

"You're wrong..." He said to himself out-loud, referring to his former friend and mentor.

"Who, Kai?" Raidomaru asked as he cocked his head to the side.

"Oh, nobody…"

With everything that had been happening over the past year of Kaito's life, the Uchiha realized that no matter what, Sunagakure would always be his home, and even more so, the villagers would be his family. This extended to all of the friends he made along the way, and even the Kazekage himself. Sunagakure was, and always would be, Kaito's home, and someday he would become one of the best Kazekages' in the village's history.

Kaito sat for a little while, about an hour, lost in his thoughts, before finally sighing and rising to his feet with a smile.

"You ready to head home, Raidomaru?" Raidomaru nodded his head up and down as he wagged his tail. "Okay, boy. Lets go home." With a deep breath, Kaito scopped Raidomaru up into his arms and activated his Mangekyō Sharingan again, and what he hoped would be the last time for quite a while. From his left eye the same distortion in space and time that brought the two of them here began to swirl around Kaito and Raidomaru from the focal point of his left eye. Within a few seconds, the two of them were completely engulfed in the distortion and faced an all too familiar place; Kaito's apartment.

Looking around, a happy tear slipped down the young man's cheek blissfully. Internally, he vowed to never take his home, his village, for-granted. Looking at the coffee table in the center of the living room, he could see the photo of his adoptive Inuzuka parents smiling at him through the frame.

'I'm home.'