The time for Team-9 to depart had arrived.

They had said their goodbyes to everyone the day before and left without fanfare early in the morning the moment the sun rose up on the crisp horizon. A long journey awaited them, so they decided to get out of the Land of Hot Water and enter the Land of Fire as soon as possible.

As they left the city behind, Iori stopped and looked back at the city that was already far in the distance, barely visible on the rest stopped and gazed at the city they had spent over two and a half months in. It wasn't a long time, but so much had happened that, in their minds, it felt like ages.

"I didn't like Yu when we lived there," said Iori. "I hate it now because I lost a friend there and never want to come back—even if it's the last remaining city in the world."

"Aye," said Daiki.

The rest also spoke their agreements and then continued on. Takuma was the last to turn away from the city, taking it in a moment longer, not because he would miss it—quite the opposite. Like Iori, he never wanted to return to Yu and couldn't be happier about leaving.

He just feared that it wouldn't leave him even though he was leaving the city.

"Takuma, come on!" Anko yelled for him.

He took a deep breath before turning away but he could still feel it, like a weight in the back of his mind.

For the next two days, fuelled by their anticipation, the team ran from sunrise to sunset as they made their way through the Land of Hot Water, only stopping at towns to rest. They arrived at the border and passed through without real problems, marking the end of the team's journey together.

Standing at an intersection of a major road, the team took in the sights of the Land of Fire for the first time in months. Not everyone's final destination was the Hidden Leaf village, so it was time to go their separate ways.

"I... I technically don't have a home address because I stopped renting before I left," Takuma sighed as he handed paper slips to everyone. "What I do have is a P.O. box that you can send letters to, and if you give me your addresses, I'll send you my new contact details when I get one."

He passed them a notepad and pen, and at the end, everyone had a copy of everyone's addresses and landline numbers.

"Keep in touch. It doesn't matter if you don't have anything to write, just send anything," Iori said as she looked at Takuma and Kameko.

"Why are you looking at us?" said Kameko.

"Because you two seem most likely not to write," Daiki replied.

"I'll write," Takuma promised—and he really meant it.

Friends were hard to come by, both because of his occupation and… himself. As nourishing as they were, friends were an endless black hole when he was already strapped for time in this life. Despite that, Takuma wanted to make time for his friends.

And now, he could count the number of friends he had on two hands—even if it was just barely.

"Unlike him, I do have a home, so if you come to the village, you can stay with me," Kameko said to Iori and Daiki.

Anko knelt on the ground as she rummaged through her backpack to take out a stack of letters. Everyone recognised the letters and stiffened. They were the 'wills' the team had made in case they died during the precursor mission. Everyone except Daiki had left behind several letters addressed to their friends and families.

"We are shinobi, and having a will and letters to loved ones on standby is practical. I suggest you re-write those standby ones when you return home to prepare for an emergency." Anko held up the letters. "These, though, we are going to burn. I was a brand new chunin when I did a dangerous mission. At the end of the mission, the jonin in charge made us burn our letters because we managed to stay alive—it was supposed to be a gesture. That, instead of worrying about death, we should aim to live to the fullest."

She distributed their letters to everyone, which left her with her stack.

"Where's Rikku's?" asked Takuma. Another terrible memory he had thought about a lot resurfaced. He remembered the Frost mission he had done with Iruka. He had to conduct his dead teammate's funerals on the field and collect their belongings so they could be returned to their families.

"With the quartermaster," Anko said quietly. "They're going to make sure her belongings reach her family."

Anko weaved hand seals and created a fire on the side of the road that the team surrounded. Takuma stared at the fire and thought about Anko's words about living to the fullest instead of worrying about death.

His entire time in this world had been a constant struggle for survival and growing stronger so he wouldn't die, but in the last year or so, he had stopped living his life with that mindset. He had been too busy to think about the dangerous future he knew was coming.

He had changed from the scared man he was when he started but was he living his life to the fullest?

No, he didn't think so. He wouldn't be a shinobi if living his life to the fullest was his goal. It was a better goal for sure, but the truth was that he wanted to live long. He wanted to feel safe and secure, and he knew in his heart that he wouldn't feel that way if he was a shinobi working towards growing strong.

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Putting himself in danger to make himself safe was a contradiction he had accepted.

As long as he knew the future, he knew he wouldn't slow down to truly enjoy life—his biggest asset was also a curse. He wondered what it would be like when he arrived at the point in the future when he no longer knew what lay ahead. It felt freeing, but it also brought a sense of anxiety, and yet he looked forward to it.

Takuma looked at the letters in his hand, snapped the jute cord holding them together, and then split the stack in half.

"Here," he said as he held the half stack to Daiki.

Daiki gazed at the letters silently for a moment before accepting them with a nod.

"Here," said Iori, who gave a few of her letters to Daiki.

"Here," Anko did the same.

Kameko silently handed him a few of her letters as well.

Daiki looked at everyone as his face twisted with emotion before hiding his face behind the fanned letters. "I miss her," he said as his voice cracked and his shoulders trembled.

"I know," Takuma said as he looked into the fire, "me too."

"To living," Anko said as she chucked her letters into the fire.

"To living," the team replied.

Everyone threw their letters and watched in silence as the flames ate paper and ink, leaving behind the ash of what could've been their last words.

Takuma thought about the symbolism. If he had died, the letters would've lived, but the letters were now dead because he had lived. And if he wanted to continue to live, someone else would have to die.

'She died so you could live,' said the hate-filled voice in his head.

Takuma turned away from the fire and took a deep breath. He shook his head to clear away the thoughts. He wasn't in the right state of mind to think about those things because he knew they would inevitably end in the same destination.

"Alright, let's split up," Anko said after the burning was complete. "I'm going this way; who else is coming with me?"

"But the village is that way," Kameko pointed in another direction.

"I'm going to visit my parents for a week before going back to the village," Anko said with a faint smile. She had talked about them before and how they used to live in the Hidden Leaf village but moved out to somewhere slower a few years back to escape the fast-paced life of the Hidden Leaf.

"I'm going that way," said Iori.

Daiki raised his hand. "Me too."

It was time to say goodbyes and Iori came over to hug Takuma.

"Try to slow down a little, take care of your health, and just don't rush... make some time yourself, yeah?" she said. "I'm going to miss you dearly, so don't forget to write."

Takuma hugged her back and nodded with a smile. "I don't want to buy my own tags anymore. You should move to the Hidden Leaf village and do it for me."

"When you become a jonin, you can hire me. I'll come then."

"Already planning to ride my coattails, huh?"

She grinned. "Hell, yeah. I want that easy life."

"Sure, I'll call you to the village when I become a jonin," Takuma shook his with a wry smile, "so you'd better get really good."

"Deal."

They separated with smiles on their faces, and Takuma walked to Daiki, who put his giant arm around his shoulder as they slowly walked while talking.

"Any plans?" asked Takuma.

"Hunting," Daiki replied. "I miss it."

"Yeah? I like that," Takuma smiled. He missed camping as well and thought about going on a weekend excursion and perhaps going hunting as well.

"There's large wetlands a day and a half from my town. Lots of crocodiles, real big ones. I'm thinking of going there to see if I can hunt the biggest one."

"Damn, I was thinking deer or something, but you're going straight for crocodiles, huh?"

"Deer were fun when I was in the academy, but not anymore. Trying not to get chewed through by half a dozen meaty crocodiles is at least fun."

"Just be careful in case you run into chakra beasts like Anko's snakes."

Daiki hummed in acceptance. "What about you? What does a city boy like you do for fun?"

Takuma rolled his eyes. "To be honest, I don't know... I haven't thought about it. Hang out with friends, have some good food, perhaps a movie or two at the theatre. I'll think about it when I get home," he sighed.

Takuma looked up at Daiki and patted his back. "Thank you for teaching me chakra masking. Next time we meet, I'll show you my progress. Let's go mess with some sensory-nin then."

Daiki laughed. "Now that sounds fun."

Finally, it was Anko's turn, and it was short because she was going to return to the Hidden Leaf village soon.

"Let's have a meal: you, me, and Kameko," she said while giving him a side hug. "Take care of yourself and if you need anything, don't hesitate to call, okay?"

Takuma nodded.

"Great," Anko smiled.

The team split up in two and went their own directions.

Takuma sighed because while he was happy to return home, he was leaving the people he had been with for so long, and who knew when he would next meet Iori and Daiki? He looked at Kameko, and while he was by no means an expert in what she was thinking, even he could tell that she was feeling the same way.

———

.

Takuma and Kameko's journey through the Land of Fire took three days. Both of them agreed that they were in no mood for sightseeing, so they took the most direct route and only stopped in towns for rest. The scenery, landscape, and weather were different from Land of Hot Waters, and Takuma felt a homesickness he didn't know he was feeling lift.

"I'm proud to be a tree-hugger," Takuma said as he saw the dense amount of trees lining the roads.

He looked at Kameko, expecting her to make a comment, but she acted like she hadn't even heard it.

"You're no fun," he whispered.

"And you aren't funny," Kameko retorted with a snort.

Takuma was about to say something about the irony when he saw something that took his breath away.

"We're here," he gulped.

It wasn't the walls of the original Hidden Leaf village, nor was it the Hokage Mountain. What Takuma saw was a simple farm. Once upon a time, the Hidden Leaf village was located within the walls of the city, but it had long since extended beyond those boundaries in the form of farmland.

Takuma had spent the first year of his shinobi career outside the city working D-rank missions in those farms.

"Let's hurry up," he said and rushed faster with Kameko following up with a similar haste.

Within fifteen minutes, they saw Hokage Mountain with the faces of the four Hokage rising above the horizon. As they drew closer to the village, they started seeing genin dressed in Hidden Leaf colours popping up every now and then. The passersby turned to look at them because they were running fast enough to overtake everyone.

It truly seemed that they were racing against each other, and people who caught their expressions before they zapped past them thought they were having the time of their lives. The village's walls became visible, and before they knew it, Takuma and Kameko stood before the giant green gates of the village with the crimson sigil displayed proudly for all to see. A slice of the Hidden Leaf village peeked between the open gates,like an oasis calling to a parched man trudging through the desert.

It was beautiful.

"We're home," Kameko sighed, her face flushed from the dash to the gates.

Takuma opened his mouth to reply, but his voice cracked. He cleared his throat, gulped, and licked his chapped lip as he tried to think about what to say before uttering a single word choked full of emotion.

"...Yeah."