Return to the Ninja World

Anyone who had tightened screws or inserted parts on an assembly line knew this.

The seconds and minutes you counted down on the assembly line, even having to report to the team leader if you wanted to use the bathroom at night, with only five minutes allowed—

Were nothing like the time a section chief spent chatting and laughing with a pretty clerk in the office, occasionally playing Fight the Landlord.

One felt like years passing in a day.

The other felt like the day was about to come.

They were completely different experiences.

And time flowed differently across the myriad worlds as well.

That said, let us shift the scene to the bustling streets of Hida-no-chi.

Neon tubes spilled cheap, glaring halos of light, dyeing the clamor of the red-light district in hazy colors.

Uchiha Yu leaned against the shadows at the mouth of an alley, the ember at his fingertips flickering as his lit cigarette traced a fleeting arc through the murky air.

He took a deep drag. The cigarette's red light suddenly flared, illuminating the deliberately forced, somewhat stiff curve at the corner of his mouth. His gaze swept across the bizarre, endlessly clamorous crowd before him, and that smile carried an indescribable detachment.

Smoke Ash fell silently.

He ground out the cigarette butt. His steps unconsciously slowed as he left the noisy main street and turned into a deeper, darker side alley.

At the end of the alley, a dead end opened its pitch-black maw like a greedy mouth.

The stench of rotting trash bins and the grime accumulated in the corners over countless years formed the only backdrop here.

Uchiha Yu tugged at the corner of his mouth, seemingly accustomed to this kind of environment.

He walked straight toward the thickest patch of darkness, his