From my 'The Cat's Paw' profile.

Disclaimer that I don't own Naruto…

Ghosts

Chapter One

The first time they noticed something was wrong was when they were travelling past one of the smaller towns on the way back to the village. They were travelling at a sedate pace, coming from a successfully completed scroll delivery mission. Some children were playing along the outskirts with a dog, which was alternating between chasing them, and being chased by them. The dog made a 'break' for it in their direction, the sudden tactic startling them enough for Obito to not react, and the dog passed right through him.

However, neither Minato nor Rin had noticed, nor did they really believe Obito when he insisted that it happened.

"I'm telling you, sensei!" the boy exclaimed. "The dog went straight through me! Like it was a ghost dog! I swear it!"

"There's no such thing as ghosts," Rin said with a long suffering sigh. "And besides, it's daylight, and the dog was playing with the children."

"What other explanation is there?" Obito asked, a dramatic tone to his voice that immediately put listeners into a disbelieving mood. "Maybe everyone in that town is a ghost! It could be a ghost town!"

"Obito, Gosen is a real village, and there are no ghosts there," Minato told his student. "Let's pick up the pace, though, so we can get you back home asap."

Obito pouted at being disbelieved, but let it go.

The second time anything was noticed, both Minato and Rin were aware of it. They were maybe twenty minutes away from the village gates at the pace they were travelling, when an ANBU patrol passed them.

"I can't wait to get back and see Kakashi-kun," Rin was saying. "I know he wasn't happy about missing the missions and our training."

"Serves the Bakashi right for messing up on that mission then," Obito said boastfully. "And he calls me clumsy!"

"Obito!" Rin chastised. "You know it wasn't Kakashi-kun's fault! Those nukenin turned up out of nowhere!"

"Whatever," Obito dismissed, then gasped when the ANBU patrol dashed by.

This time, he missed out on them going straight through him, but Minato and Rin didn't. "Sensei?" Rin asked in a small voice as they all stopped, rooted to the spot.

"What's going on?" Obito asked, for while they hadn't gone through him, he'd seen them pass through his sensei and team mate.

Minato uttered a surprised, "I didn't even sense them," then said louder and surely, "Let's just get back to the village," and set them off at a ninja pace.

At the gates was their next sign. The two on duty didn't look familiar, but then Rin suddenly declared, "They look like Izumo and Kotetsu! Only older!"

"The demented duo?" Obito asked, earning himself a slap upside his head and a stern look from his sensei.

Minato stepped forward. "Hello?" he said, waving his hand in front of them, but the two men acted as if they all weren't there, carrying on their conversation as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

It was the same through the rest of the village. No one could see them, people occasionally even walked right through them, if they weren't careful.

"Maybe we're the ghosts," Obito whispered ominously. "We must have died on that mission, and now we're damned to wander the world as lost souls!"

"Don't be so dramatic," Rin scolded, though she seemed less sure than she had before.

"I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this," Minato added.

Walking through the streets, they discovered another sign that showed something was off, even though by now, all three had accepted that fact. They got lost. Turned around. Whatever. No matter how it went, they still ended up in the wrong place. That left turn back there should have had them on the main thoroughfare, but instead they ended up in the market district. And then they ended up in front of what looked like the arena used for the finals of a chuunin exam. Turning right at that particular intersection had them passing along a street of civilian homes.

After about the eighth time getting lost, Minato got them up on the roof to get to the Hokage tower that way. However, once they were up there, they were gaping like fish out of water.

"No way!" Obito eventually exclaimed. "Why the heck is Bakashi's face on the Hokage mountain!? I'm the one who's supposed to get there!"

"Sensei's face is up there too!" Rin exclaimed, then the two turned to look at the man in question.

Minato was frowning. "How could this happen?" he wondered. "There wasn't anything unusual about that mission, other than…"

He paused, and Rin seemed to realise what he was talking about. "That odd light!" she exclaimed. "Some kind of jutsu, maybe?"

"You mean that flash bomb that guy set off?" Obito asked, face scrunched in confusion. "But that was a weak attack! How could that have killed us?"

"I'm still not so sure that we're dead," Minato mused. "Perhaps it was a genjutsu… But one this elaborate? Or maybe we're unconscious, and one of us is either dreaming or hallucinating. If not, then the only explanation possible would be… No, that's really not possible, is it?"

"What sensei?" Rin asked, as Obito chirped in with, "What what what?"

Minato shook his head. "It's impossible," he said. "Time travel is just a myth."

"Time travel?" Obito was wide eyed. "That's… Way cooler than being dead! Sensei, you're a genius!"

"Let's just get to the Hokage tower," Minato said. "Maybe we can figure out what's going on from there."

The two chuunin followed their sensei along the rooftops to the Hokage tower, which was also different. Once there, Minato insisted they walk through normally, obviously out of a combination of respect and habit. Walking through the halls, they saw a lot of unfamiliar faces, as well as older versions of people they knew.

"That's Genma!" Obito whispered to Rin after poking her shoulder.

"Yes, Obito, I can see that."

When they made it to the Hokage office, they had to step through the door. Minato did it without a worry, Rin stepped quickly through, eyes shut briefly, and Obito grimaced before dramatically stumbling through. Once on the other side, they saw a sight that they'd been expecting, but that one of them had been hoping was just a misunderstanding.

Hatake Kakashi, all grown up, and wearing the Hokage Robes.

Thanks for reading!