V.1-C.33│Return III│

"Capture them both." The Third Mizukage stated, before Obito saw the world slow down some more as he activated his Sharingan.

He looked at Mei's terrified face, and knew that she should probably not stay here within this village. He also needed a plan to make sure that they don't discover his space-time technique, otherwise he knows for sure a lot of people would be scared and place high-high bounties on him.

He didn't need that attention.

Nor did he want it either.

Quickly moving towards Mei, he took her easily. As he looked around as well, he needed to escape and do it in a way that can't be misconstrued.

He didn't want to start the Third Great Shinobi War early after all, which would be starting soon anyway, but he didn't want to light the flames of war.

His options as is was using explosive tags, which would definitely make him look like the bad guy in this situation, possibly giving Kirigakure all the reason they would need to do what they want to Konoha, that is if they don't protect him.

Which it was very likely they wouldn't considering he is just some random orphan of the Uchiha, as he remembered that even Hizashi Hyuga had to sacrifice himself for his brother due to Kumogakure's demands.

Dodging a kunai knife that had come at him while he is holding onto Mei, he decided that he would escape away from this area first.

While he may not be able to just up and defeat the current Third Mizukage, that didn't mean he can't do a tactical retreat. 'Live to fight another day, I guess.' He thought, before saying to Mei. "Don't worry. I got you."

Mei just looked at him strangely, but he ignored it before he went through the men trying to kill him and Mei. They most certainly didn't want to stop them and capture them, it seemed more like they wanted to kill the both of them.

Though the Third Mizukage's abilities remain mostly unknown, the fact that he was chosen as the Kage of his village, suggests that he was the most powerful shinobi of Kirigakure in his time, as the village chooses only the strongest warrior as its leader.

Even before becoming the Mizukage, his power was such that he was chosen to be the bodyguard of the First Mizukage.

Exiting the building, Obito had managed to get away boosting his muscles through chakra as much as he could. His speed couldn't be said to be the fastest, but it was better than nothing and instead it seemed to be enough to escape those pursuing him.

"Where are we going? What about your space-time technique?" Mei didn't seem to mind what was going on, and had even snuggled closer to Obito as he held her.

"We need to get away first. I thought things would go differently."

"So did I..." Mei seemed a little upset at this, clearly not knowing that she would be thrown to the gutters so easily. "I guess this means I am officially homeless now." She laughed bitterly.

"Really? I know of just the place that would welcome you. Well, I would welcome you, but I'm unsure of what Konohagakure would think..." Obito was already thinking of ways to allow Mei in with him.

He didn't expect much, but if he didn't even try, he would be going against himself. "I don't know about that..." Mei seemed hesitant, but willing to go with over this place that was clearly trying to kill them both.

"There they are! Get them!" Multiple Kiri shinobi were coming after them in this moment, and Mei decided that she would try to do something.

She went through some hand signs, and was about to release a wave of toxic gas to stop their approach, Obito had stopped her. "You cant!"

"Why not!?" She was exasperated, that he had stopped her from helping in their escape.

"I know you only want to help, but I don't want to be hunted down. We both may be put in the bingo book, but we don't want to go back to Konoha and have our actions be the cause of some conflict. We may even have to give our lives to satiate the bloodlust of the Third Mizukage." Obito explained as he kept running, even with the weight of Mei weighing him down a little.

"That makes sense... I'm sorry." Mei apologized easily, letting her emotions get the best of her in this moment.

"Don't worry about it. I have a plan." Obito smirked before he chucked Mei onto his back, getting her to reposition herself so that she is now getting a piggy back ride. Making a familiar hand sign, even knowing that he doesn't have as much chakra as before, he thought to himself. 'Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!'

From Obito, multiple Obito's sprung forth to confuse their pursuers, and even the best sensors would struggle to find them. While he may not be a powerhouse in terms of chakra anymore, he actually has more chakra than a lot of people within Konoha already.

The average shinobi couldn't compare, and thanks to a menagerie of things, factors boosting the growth of his chakra, and increasing the limit of his chakra, Obito had more than enough to release enough clones for at least every single individual chasing them, plus a few more to help create further confusion.

Chaos was the goal. 'Heh, and maybe a little bit of something else might be fun as well.' Obito had also had a specially thought out thought that all of his Shadow Clones knew of.

"W-W-What!?" A large echo called out as one of the Kiri shinobi no doubt had been caught by his special technique.

"What is happening over there!?" Mei asked Obito.

"Just a little something that could be considered a prank."

"A prank, at this time!?" Mei was exasperated some more, but she was also having a little bit of fun in this scenario. Which really, she shouldn't.

As they were going and the clones started to fan out with clones of even herself, Mei was finally able to glance at said 'special' technique.

A black haired girl, with cute features similar to Obito's appeared with smoke surrounding 'her' private areas. "Hello, boyo's." She did a smooching action, and Obito had been shown a new side of Obito.

'Is he... Is he a pervert...?' Mei thought, before blushing as she realized that she may have just gotten herself involved with a pervert. A loveable one at that.

[]

"Elder sister Kushina, do you have ways or methods with which we could get stronger?" Rin asked the older girl.

Their trip back to Konoha had been taking a few days, and they weren't really surprised that Obito hadn't made it back yet. But, they did worry, especially as more days went by, just what could've happened that it was taking so long.

Or at least that is what it seemed, but it was perfectly reasonable Obito would be taking a long time to get there, and then leave.

In fact, all of them could of gone with Obito. 'Wait a minute! I forgot to ask him that!' Kushina facepalmed her face, knowing that she had just went blank.

"Elder sister?" Rin questioned again, seeing that Kushina didn't respond as she was within her own world.

"Oh! Yes, sorry, sorry. I was just distracted for a bit. What did you say again?" Kushina asked the younger girl.

"I asked if there are any ways that could make me and Kurenai stronger." Rin stated.

"You two wish to become stronger, huh?" Kushina asked a rhetorical question as she thought on what she could potentially teach them. Sure, there was the whole teamwork plan, alongside life lessons and all of that, but she also needed to provide the girls with some way to advance themselves.

As it would seem that they have finally seen that they, while strong, are nothing compared to Obito. Not like they didn't already know this, but it just seemed they wanted to know of ways to catch up to him.

They had packed up and continued their journey, but that didn't mean that Kushina couldn't help them in a direction they would want to go. "Kurenai wants to go down genjutsu, and Rin, you want to go down medical ninjutsu. Right?" The two girls answered in affirmative to her questions. "Then, I wont be of much help. What I am good at is fuinjutsu. This is the area I am talented in."

"Does that mean you can't help us?" Kurenai asked, wondering if this was true.

"That isn't right. Sure, I may be no where near the chakra control expert that would need to teach the two of you to improve, but I can help in other things. Don't think that you don't have anything to learn from me." Kushina responded. "If anything, I can help get you two some personal teachers. How about that?"

"Who?" Rin asked.

"Well, for you Rin, there is only one person that I know of amongst medical shinobi. One person that I may, or may not have some distant relations too." Kushina thought of a particular blond haired woman that was quite beautiful. "The Legendary Sannin, Tsunade Senju."

"What!? You mean you can get her to teach me!?" Rin asked.

"I don't know, but she would be most suitable." Kushina answered, before moving onto Kurenai. "And Kurenai."

"Y-Yes?" Kurenai was shocked as well, thinking that maybe there was someone else as legendary that she could learn under.

"There is one person that we all know that could help you in particular. She happens to be an Uchiha, and I'm sure you know of who, don't you?" Kushina questioned the girl.

"Oh..." Kurenai seemed a little disappointed, not because Mikoto was someone that wasn't strong, it was just that she isn't as legendary as Tsunade, and she wasn't even well known even as a shinobi as well. "Is elder sister Mikoto that strong with genjutsu?" Kurenai asked.

Laughing, Kushina replied. "She is certainly strong. She may not be well known or renowned, but there are reasons for that." Like Mikoto spending all of her time focused on hunting down those that wished to do Obito harm.

Putting that aside, she was also a formidable opponent when it came to her genjutsu. Mikoto is an Uchiha after all. That aside, Mikoto was in fact one of the best, if not the best in terms of accuracy and marksmanship within the Uchiha.

Maybe within the entirety of Konoha, she was specialized as such. That is without taking into consideration the rest of the abilities that Mikoto has kept hidden away from everyone else.

Without a doubt she is good with genjutsu, among the best within Konoha even. However she is mostly known for her ability to never miss.

"Ok. If what you say is correct, I will learn under elder sister Mikoto." Kurenai replied, knowing from personal experience that Mikoto may very well be her best teacher.

There weren't really any other experts within Konoha in regards to their genjutsu abilities, not at this time anyway.

"Great! It is settled then. I shall help you two get settled with those two, that is if I can do it..." Kushina now knew that she would do so, but she did think she would struggle a little with Tsunade.

As all three of them were making their way in silence since the discussion had ended, there was a disturbance up ahead, as a spiraling void appeared before the three of them, making them all stop.

"Is it Obito?" Rin asked with a slightly muffled excited expression, as she couldn't very well just give away such happiness at seeing him again, even if it had only been a week at most since she had last seen him.

"Something is wrong..." Kushina said as she went forward, and Obito along with Mei had appeared before them. "Obito...?" Kushina stepped forwards as she caught ahold of both Mei and Obito.

"That wasn't fun..." Obito said, as everyone could see that there was some blood stains found on the both of them. Obito was the only one awake, as Mei was unconscious.

"Obito!" Kurenai ran forwards as well as Rin, before Rin got to work in using the Mystical Palm technique.

"What happened?" Kushina knew she shouldn't have let him go, or even let Mei go as well.

"Some complications. Don't worry. We are uninjured... well, Mei is uninjured while I am relatively unharmed." Obito replied as he got up from Kushina having caught him.

"That doesn't really explain things..." Kushina wanted to know, so too did Kurenai and Rin as well.

"You see..." Obito recounted to the three of them of what had happened, his encounter with the Third Mizukage and the subsequent chase. He told them that he had sustained such small and minor cuts due to needing to get away and stay hidden to use his space-time technique without having to alert others of it.

It can essentially allow him to connect to anywhere on this planet after all. It was the ultimate space-time technique, or at least the most powerful one that Obito knew of, or anyone really knew of.

Which was only the people in the here and now. "I see..." Kushina adopted a serious look, before picking up Mei and attaching Mei to her back. "Don't worry. I'll carry her. You rest, and heal. We should get back to Konohagakure. It seems like things are much more serious than what the Hokage had told me."

"Serious?" Kurenai asked, as she had started to fuss over every small wound that Obito had taken.

"Yes. I don't remember if I said this, and I really shouldn't say anything, but it seems like things are way more serious than I thought. Another war is on the horizon." Kushina revealed to them.

"So soon!?" Rin exclaimed, as they have just come off of the back of the Second Great Shinobi World War.

Kushina didn't reply, but did say. "We don't have to worry about them pursuing us, I would assume?" Kushina asked Obito.

"Right. They are none the wiser. Not of my space-time technique, nor of where we went. I think they would assume that we are currently in hiding, and considering the security of the Land of Water, if I wasn't with Mei, she would have been killed for sure." Obito shook his head as he said this.

"Good. As long as they don't have much information, then you should be safe... You didn't happen to give away your full identity... right?" Kushina asked hopefully.

"It's not like I could hide it, I needed to escape, and I came with my identity worn on my sleeve." Obito sighed as he said this.

"Right..." Kushina knew that she would be giving the Third Hokage a headache. "Say, Obito. You seem to have a natural talent for causing the Third Hokage to gain new problems. Good job. What I try to do through pranks on purpose, you do on accident." Kushina lightened up the mood a bit.

"Was that a compliment...?" Obito didn't know.