A Brief History as Hokage

A Naruto Fanfic by

Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)

Chapter 4: Deliverer

In the end, Boruto could not be sure if it was because he was the Hokage's son, or if Karin had been so determined to kill him that she'd charged into the village in broad daylight, not caring who saw her. All he knew was that within seconds of Karin subduing him, the training field was filled with Leaf-nin, all eager to save him.

More importantly, standing among them was the one person he was sure could get him out of this mess... if only because she could put him back together, if Karin ripped him to pieces.

"Tsu-baa!" Boruto bawled, the combined abruptness and volume of his cry distracting Karin enough where he was able to substitute himself with a clipboard that Tsunade was carrying. He immediately latched onto the older woman's waist for safety, and was greeted by her scowl and the all too familiar sensation of a sharp, bony knuckle driven into the top of his skull. But he'd take that over being strangled any day.

And it wasn't just that he was safe. He was genuinely glad to see Tsunade. Alive, and acting exactly like she was supposed to. True, he usually wasn't glad to see her, since he associated her with boring hospital stays or embarrassing physical examinations. But if there was one thing he could count on, it was that Tsunade needed him alive in order to continue tormenting him, which surely brought her great pleasure, and that she would flatten anyone who got in the way of her fun.

Which was an admittedly odd way to think of his godmother, but despite all of her faults, Tsunade had never failed protect Boruto if someone meant to cause him serious harm within her sight.

Though, she certainly seemed to be taking her time with it today. In fact, she hadn't moved from her original spot, nor had she given any sort of order to the other ninja, so most of them were staring at her expectantly. Kind of the same way Tsunade was staring at Karin.

It took Boruto a moment to remember that Tsunade and Karin might not be total strangers. If the genjutsu world could be depended on, Tsunade had at least seen Karin once. He wasn't sure if that would explain the hesitation that he was seeing now, though.

Karin still looked furious, and was still glaring at Boruto, but she hadn't attacked again, perhaps recognizing that she was outnumbered, or simply not wanting to have to go through Tsunade. But she also hadn't put her chains away.

Finally, one of the ninja standing closest to Tsunade spoke. "Godaime-sama, isn't this woman with that group?"

"It must be her! She went missing during the war," another added. "We never found a body!"

"There's no doubt! She's Karin!"

Tsunade finally turned away from Karin and rapped Boruto on the head with her knuckle again. "Well, brat? Are they right?"

Rubbing his aching head, Boruto stared up at Tsunade curiously. He didn't know why she was asking him that, he'd never met Karin before. How could he possibly be expected to identify her now?

Unless... he wasn't supposed to. Because if he did, chances were Karin would go directly to prison, and she would never answer any of his questions then. And he didn't even want to think of how upset Sarada would be, when she learned of his role in that matter.

"She's Rinka," Boruto stated plainly. "My sparring partner for today."

Even Karin looked stunned by the rather obvious lie.

"Godaime-sama, surely you don't think-" one of the ninja began.

"Are you calling my godson a liar?" Tsunade demanded, her eyes flashing with barely concealed outrage.

"No, of course not!" the ninja protested. "Just, he might be mistaken-!"

Boruto jabbed a finger at the developing bruise around his neck. "If we weren't sparring, then how did I get this, huh?"

"She was trying to assassinate you?" the ninja suggested weakly.

"Do you think we'd all be standing here staring at her if that was true? All bragging aside, I am the Hokage's son! I think I know the difference between someone appointed to spar with me, and someone trying to kill me! Rinka was just doing her job! And doing it well, if you mistook her for an assassin!"

"But she does resemble Karin," the ninja pointed out.

"Well, she should resemble her twin sister, shouldn't she?"

At this point, the ninja promptly gave up.

"And even if she were Karin," Tsunade added, "I would immediately offer her a full pardon. She saved my life during the war, and in fact had to escape our custody in order to do that. Which more than outweighs any crimes she may or may not have committed, or any information she may or may not have withheld under our questioning. All of which I'm sure my fellow Hokage will back me up on, so go ahead and notify them, because I can tell that you're dying to."

"But remember: she's Rinka, not Karin," Boruto was quick to add. "Hair's different. On the side."

He wasn't sure if they ignored him, or if they heard him and were just refusing to admit it.

Karin had the decency to wait until the three of them were safely in Tsunade's home before she tried to murder Boruto again. She didn't use chains this time, but she was deceptively fast. And while she didn't hit as hard as Tsunade, she was still able to pack a great deal of force into her blows, to the point where Boruto couldn't really tell the difference after the first few. Although her aiming for his head may have had something to do with it, as well.

Tsunade finally stopped them after about ten minutes. "Now, is someone going to tell me what this is all about, considering you two have never met before today?"

Boruto opened his mouth to say that he had no idea what Karin's problem was, but before he could...

"He's trying to take advantage of my precious Sarada-chan!" Karin shouted.

"I did what now?" Boruto asked in shock.

"You mean Uchiha Sarada?" Tsunade asked, in just as much disbelief.

Karin glared at her. "Yes!"

"The one that lives in this village?" Boruto added, because he was sure there was some mistake. "Why would I...? No, wait, before that, how could I even take advantage of her? She's the one always telling me how much smarter than me she is!"

"Don't play dumb with me!" Karin shrieked. "Or her! I know you're trying to trick her!"

"Into WHAT?!" Boruto cried. He had no idea what Karin was thinking.

"Into being your girlfriend!"

Boruto stared at her. "Why would I need to trick her? Either she wants to be my girlfriend, or she doesn't. And by the way? SHE DOESN'T! And even if she did, I don't even want a girlfriend right now! The only one who got tricked around here is clearly you!"

"You liar!" Karin yelled. "I know what you're up to! You just want to use her and then toss her away like trash!"

"Who the hell would be stupid enough to do that?! I have to see her every day!"

"Okay, stop," Tsunade cut in. "Karin, where is all of this coming from? I've known Boruto all of his life. None of this sounds like anything he'd do, and certainly not to someone he cared for and respected. Which is exactly how he feels about Sarada, I've seen it."

"What about the message he sent me?!" Karin whipped out Boruto's note and threw it at him.

"What, this?!" Boruto cried. "All I said was that I was Sarada's teammate! How the hell do you get 'I'm going to use her and throw her away' from that?!"

"It's not about what's in the message, it's the message itself! You signed up with Akane for Sarada-chan so she'd owe you!"

"No, I didn't! I did it because she's my friend, and she needed my help!"

"That's crap! No boy would ever do something like that without demanding something in return!"

Boruto glared at Karin. "Are you so stupidly paranoid that you think Sarada is dumb enough to get taken in by someone who would treat her so badly? Don't you dare insult my teammate like that! There's no way that could ever happen to someone as smart as her!"

Karin fell silent, her face going red as she struggled to come up with a response.

"Are you going to answer him?" Tsunade asked mildly. "Because I'm curious myself."

"I don't trust you," Karin said at last, sticking her finger in Boruto's face. "I won't trust anyone with Sarada-chan's heart. Least of all some lippy brat who hides behind a Hokage! I won't let you or anyone else hurt her! I promise you, if you ever give me any reason to think you have, she'll be crying tears of blood for you out of her new Mangekyo Sharingan!"

"What the hell does that even mean?!" Boruto shouted, throwing up his hands in frustration, but Karin refused to say another word in his presence.

Tsunade took Boruto aside. "I think we've hit a dead end here. Go get Sarada."

"Why?" Boruto asked at once. "I'm not so sure we should trust her around Sarada."

"You're only saying that because you're pissed. Now imagine how Sarada would feel if she found out that Karin was here, and that you kept that information from her."

Boruto scowled at her. "Fine. But I'm doing this under protest!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You do everything an adult asks under protest. Just go, brat."

Though Boruto was somewhat expecting it, he was still surprised when Sakura answered the door at the Uchiha home instead of Sarada.

"Oh, Boruto," Sakura said, sounding a little surprised herself. "You're just in time, we're finishing up breakfast. Have you eaten yet? There's plenty left."

Before Boruto could respond, he heard a voice from within the house. It was Sarada's, she was talking to someone, she called that someone "Papa", and Boruto was instantly furious.

"That sounds lovely, thanks," Boruto said, pouring as much insincerity into the words as he could. And then he walked past her, into the house.

Sakura blinked, shook her head, then shut the door and followed him to the kitchen.

Sarada was putting the leftovers into containers. Sasuke was apparently supervising, if it were possible to do that by not helping at all. Sakura returned to the sink, where she'd been washing the breakfast dishes.

Boruto stood there, pointedly ignoring Sasuke, because it was now clear that Sasuke must have set him up to be strangled by Karin, and then gone home to have a nice family breakfast. Boruto still hadn't decided how best to bring up the topic of Karin with Sarada. Or maybe he was still annoyed enough at Karin that he wanted to stall the eventual meeting as long as possible.

So, talking to Sasuke or Sarada wasn't really an option. Which may have been why Boruto interrupted Sakura before she could get started on the dishes again.

"Could I speak to you in private?" he asked.

Sakura's eyebrows rose in surprise. Considering Boruto's reaction to her invitation, she'd been sure that she was the last person that he wanted to visit with. "Um... sure."

Sasuke had no reaction as Sakura and Boruto went into the next room, though Sarada gave Boruto a curious glance. He caught her eye and merely shook his head. He didn't want her involved, yet.

Boruto surprised himself by immediately asking Sakura, "Do you know puppetry?"

Sakura gave him a blank look which quickly turned into a smirk. "No, but I've got a standing offer if I ever want to learn it. And if you want to learn it, you should just accept the offer in my place, since I'm not going to. I get the feeling that Kankuro doesn't like owing people favors."

Boruto was relieved: finally, something that made sense. "How come you don't want to learn?"

"It's complicated. But the biggest reason is sentimental. I worked with another Suna puppet master on a mission. She's the only one I'd ever want to learn from. But she died on that mission, and I wouldn't feel right, learning from anyone else. That, and I don't particularly want to learn. Puppetry is more about working with non-living things. That's a complete departure from my area of specialization."

That, Boruto could definitely respect now. He'd seen more than enough of people working with non-living things lately.

"You didn't actually stop by just to ask me that, right?" Sakura guessed.

"No," Boruto answered. "I need to get back to my training with Sasuke. And I need to tell Sarada something, but I really don't want to."

"You mean about the aggressive visitor you ran into this morning?"

Boruto gaped at her. "How did you know?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and pointed to herself. "Slug summoner."

"What does that have to do with-?"

"Who do you think taught me how to summon them, and let me sign the contract?"

Boruto groaned. "Tsu-baa?"

"Sent me a slug the second you left her place. You want me to heal some of those scratches? If that's all you got from you-know-who, you're one lucky kid."

"Do you know why she's so insane?" Boruto demanded.

Sakura sighed. "Well, I can tell you from experience that she's only insane when it comes to people she's extremely passionate about."

"Would you trust her around Sarada?"

Sakura smiled sadly. "I would and I have. I'm guessing she didn't get around to explaining the first time she and Sarada met?"

"No." Boruto wasn't aware they'd met at all, since Sarada had said they hadn't. But he decided to leave out that Karin had been too busy trying to kill him, and then unjustly accusing him, to explain anything about her past. Though he suspected Sakura already knew that.

"She was the first person who ever held Sarada," Sakura stated.

Boruto blinked. "Wait, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Karin delivered Sarada. That's why she's so attached... and over-protective. Well, part of why, anyway."

"So she's not crazy? She just really loves Sarada?"

Sakura made a noncommittal noise that in no way assured Boruto of Karin's sanity. "It's more accurate to say she's crazy about Sarada. But yes, there is a deep love there. I wish I could have encouraged it more, but life got in the way. So as much trouble as Karin's being here might cause, I'm glad she is here. And as much trouble as Karin will no doubt cause you, I'll warn you now: don't make Sarada choose between you two."

Though he accepted the warning for what it was, Boruto just had to ask. "You think Sarada wouldn't pick me?"

Sakura shook her head. "I know that no matter who she picked, if she did at all, nobody would be happy with the result. Least of all Sarada herself."

Boruto didn't like it, but he knew now what he had to do. No, he'd known from the moment he saw Karin. He just hadn't wanted to admit it to himself. But there truly was no avoiding it.

He went back into the kitchen, where Sarada was putting away the last of the food. "Hey, Sarada? I need to tell you something. I don't know how you'll feel-"

"Before that," Sasuke interrupted, drawing a glare from Boruto. "You have one last session."

"This is more important," Boruto insisted.

"Even so," Sasuke replied. "You'll do this first."

"Why?" Boruto demanded.

"We had an agreement. You won't stop until we're done."

"I'm not stopping, I'm just taking a short break because this is more important! You know, to your daughter?"

"Unacceptable."

"What the hell is your problem?!"

"Students who don't keep their word. Even your father always managed to do that."

Boruto exploded at that point. "YOU DON'T GET TO TALK ABOUT MY-!"

"Boruto!" Sarada cried.

Boruto stopped and stared at her. She wasn't angry at him, like he'd expected. Rather, she looked worried about him. "Sarada, I..." He trailed off, unable to finish.

"What sort of training have you two been doing?" Sarada asked softly.

"It would be easier to show you," Sasuke said after a pause.

"NO!" Boruto shouted at once. The last thing he ever wanted was for Sarada to know what sort of monster her father could have been. And he wasn't even sure if Sarada knowing what sort of mother Karin could have been would be more damaging than that.

Sasuke stared at him. "Relax. The last session deals primarily with your family."

Boruto scowled at him. "What family, you already-" he started to say, then caught Sarada looking at him and fell silent. "Why would you even want Sarada to see this?" he asked instead.

"It's less about what I want, and more about what she needs," Sasuke said. When Boruto appeared unimpressed, he added, "My daughter isn't so weak that something like this would break her. You greatly underestimate her."

"It's got nothing to do with that! Anyone who wouldn't try to protect a friend is trash!" Boruto snapped.

Sasuke's eyes widened, just for an instant. "You might just pass this test after all."

The first thing Boruto became aware of was the two red lights floating in the darkness. After a moment, he realized it was the glow of Sarada's eyes: she had activated her Sharingan.

"Boruto?" she asked, shaking him a bit.

With a start, he realized that he was lying on a cold floor, and immediately sat up. It was, thankfully, his own body. So at least he didn't have to worry about explaining being in his father's corpse.

"Where are we?" Sarada asked, glancing around. "I don't know this place."

Boruto soon saw that he didn't, either. It was a dark, circular chamber. There was only one thing of interest in the room: a staircase leading down.

"He's never brought me here before," Boruto muttered.

Sarada looked at him, frowned, but said nothing.

"Why the eyes?" Boruto asked.

She blinked and blushed slightly. "Oh. I thought maybe there was something hidden in here. There wasn't." The Sharingan quickly faded from her eyes.

"It was a good idea," Boruto said. "We should keep it in mind."

Sarada stared at him, clearly confused. "Okay?"

"What?"

"You're not usually this... supportive? Agreeable?"

He frowned. "Wow. Thanks a lot."

"No, I mean... forget it." She grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. "We should check downstairs."

Boruto pouted. "Don't wanna. I don't wanna be too agreeable."

Sarada shook her head. "Idiot," she muttered, fondly. She reached the stairs first, paused to activate her Sharingan, and stared intently at the stairs for a long moment. Finally, she nodded and started to head down, with Boruto following her closely.

The stairs ended in another chamber, but this one proved far more interesting. The walls were lined, from floor to ceiling, with rows and rows of shelves. Each shelf was filled with green, softly glowing glass orbs.

Boruto immediately got a bad feeling about the orbs. He was almost positive that they had the same glow his mother had, when she'd mysteriously appeared in the Hyuga compound to challenge Sasuke. He wasn't sure he liked the possible connection.

Sarada had already begun to inspect one of the orbs. After a few seconds, she poked it with a finger. The orb turned yellow, and at once, a circular panel in the floor lit up, displaying a hologram of the orb's contents.

"Kaa-chan," Boruto breathed softly.

It was her, but as a young girl. She was seated between an Inuzuka and an Aburame, and was nervously twiddling her thumbs as she glanced around expectantly. A small, white puppy dozed in her lap, his tail twitching occasionally as he dreamed.

"These are memories," Sarada said slowly as the hologram faded. She looked at another orb. "Look, this one is-"

The floor lit up again, and Boruto gasped sharply at the sight: his young mother, unconscious and barely breathing, blood staining the front of clothing as she was loaded onto a stretcher. And his young father, dipping his knuckles in the spilled bood, and vowing on it to win.

"All of these are her memories," Sarada said. "Or about her, at least. But why are they here?"

"Why are we here?" Boruto countered.

"Maybe there's a particular memory you need to find?"

Boruto frowned. "Why me?"

Sarada blinked. "She's your mother. And it's your training session. I assume it would be about you reaching a goal, not me doing it for you. I don't even know what happened in the other sessions." She paused. "And I can see that you don't want to tell me, so start looking."

Boruto was impressed. Sarada did not sound annoyed that he was keeping things from her, just annoyed that he wasn't doing his share of the work. But then, she'd always been that way. He was allowed to have his secrets, but not to slack off when there was work to do.

They soon found that the memories were somewhat in order. Boruto immediately moved to the more recent ones, and suggested that Sarada look through the earlier ones. His attempt to shield her from the truth was pointless, however. There was no way to tell what orb held what memory without touching them, and they would both stop to watch whenever a memory was displayed.

All too soon, Sarada was watching Sasuke order the reanimated Team 7 to execute Lee and assault their friends. Oddly, she made no comment about it, but merely turned stiffly back to the orbs and poked one that showed Hinata throwing a stick to the white puppy, who she called Akamaru.

"That's why you were so mad at Papa earlier," Sarada murmured. "Because he's been showing you things like that?"

Boruto nodded.

"I'm sorry, Boruto."

"Not your fault."

Sarada sighed. "Has he at least said why he's doing this?"

"I'm supposed to figure it out, but I still have no clue," Boruto admitted.

"But you've been at this for days. You must have learned something by now."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

Sarada gave him a look. "I have faith in you," she said simply.

Boruto frowned. "I guess there's one thing I didn't know before this. But I don't think it's what I'm supposed to learn."

"Well, what is it?" Sarada asked.

"Kaa-chan... she's really strong here," Boruto murmured. "I don't know if she was always that way and just doesn't show it much, or if she only got this strong because tou-chan died and she felt like she had to be stronger to beat Sasuke."

"So did she? Beat him?"

Boruto shrugged. "I know that's why she was training, but he never showed me that part."

"Maybe it's here," Sarada suggested. "It should be somewhere on your side."

With both of them searching the more recent shelves, it wasn't long before they found a memory that looked promising.

"You said I could trust you."

The pale man smiled and turned to face Hinata. "You can."

"What you asked me for... it didn't give me much reason to trust you."

"I can appreciate that, Hinata. But you are here, and you do have what I asked for. Surely you didn't come prepared, just to taunt me? It's a little far to go for a prank."

Hinata shook her head. "Can you at least give me any reason-?"

"I gave you my word, Hinata. So long as you keep yours, there is nothing to fear. And forgive me for saying so, but I cannot imagine there is much I can do to worsen your situation."

Taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it, Hinata held out the small jar.

He waited, giving her a chance to change her mind, and then slowly reached out and took it. "Thank you, Hinata. I will not betray your trust."

"See that you don't, Toneri."

The next time they saw each other, days later, Toneri was still adjusting to his new eyes, and the body of a young Hyuga boy found in an alley was attributed to another senseless attack by the Uchiha clones. They did not deny the claim, and in any case, they did take the body.

"I can't believe she did that," Sarada whispered.

"Don't judge her," Boruto said at once.

"I'm not," Sarada assured him. "I understand she was desperate. I'm not blaming her for that. Just... I can't imagine her killing a child from her clan. For that to be an option... it must be horrible, living this way."

Boruto was debating whether to tell Sarada that this wasn't the first time he'd seen Toneri. He wasn't sure it was a good idea. She would probably demand to know why he hadn't said anything. Because while she would never judge him for keeping secrets, she would be mad if he failed to share relevant information that could make the difference between a successful mission and a failed one.

But then he noticed something odd that stopped him.

The orb they had just viewed had turned white. None of the others had done that. And even as he looked, various orbs now had a large, white spot floating to the top of them. These were memories of Toneri, Boruto knew at once. These were the memories they needed to see.

There were an awful lot of them, and Boruto knew, suddenly and with disturbing clarity, what he would see, even before he touched the next orbs. There was no denying it then.

His mother was learning from Toneri, training her body and mind for the final battle against Sasuke. He was the one teaching her puppetry, and as she'd said, she had no talent for the fine control aspects, she could only channel her explosive fury at Sasuke into it. Toneri taught her sealing methods, so old and powerful that they predated Uzumaki techniques, put them completely to shame. He taught her graceful movements that even the oldest Hyuga could never have seen. He showed her ways to use chakra that no one currently living on the planet had ever imagined. He told her the true versions of stories that were only the stuff of legends and myths where she had come from.

And as she learned, Toneri would watch her with certain looks: of pride, amusement, desire, and longing so deep and dark and cold and lonely that it made Boruto certain that the only place Toneri could have developed such a need was growing up on the moon.

But always, Hinata rejected his advances. Her heart, she said, belonged to only one man, and now that he was gone, she would never give it to anyone else. And in the end, when the solitude grew to be too much, and Toneri was the only person in any world who understood how much she had lost, how hard she had worked to grow stronger still, and how even if she managed to defeat Sasuke that she would still never truly be happy again, it made a certain kind of awful sense.

The first time that Hinata woke up in Toneri's bed, with his arms curled protectively around her, she understood. He loved her. He loved her more than she had ever loved Naruto, because with Naruto, she'd had other options. If nothing had ever happened there, she was certain Kiba or Shino would have made the sacrifice for her. And really, for people like them, a Hyuga maiden was no sacrifice, but a hard-earned prize. But for Toneri, there had only ever been Hinata. Without her, he would die, alone and never having known warmth.

She did not love him. If not for Naruto, perhaps she might have loved Toneri, eventually. But the day that Naruto had died, her heart had broken beyond repair. Now she was nothing more than one of Toneri's puppets: slammed and shattered and slowly but surely breaking into pieces, totally hollow on the inside.

And the next thought brought an eerie smile to Hinata's lips, because it would haunt her for the rest of her days.

hollow on the inside, nothing but an empty shell, a vessel waiting to be filled, not with a demon but with a moon monster, who would only know coldness and blindness and power, and if she died he would crush the world for her, because she had left him nothing but a legacy of eternal hatred, so much like Sas-

When the painful pulses in her eyes began, Toneri knew at once what the cause was, but remained silent. Hinata knew that asking him was pointless.

She also remembered that he had similar pains, before he awakened the Tenseigan.

But it made no sense. The Tenseigan required chakra from both the Otsutsuki and Hyuga clans. Beyond that, she had given Toneri the Byakugan, and his body had done the rest. But she had gone through no such process.

Unless.

She already was a Hyuga with the Byakugan, so theoretically, the only thing she would need is Otsutsuki chakra. And she would remember if Toneri had grafted a body part onto her. Just as she remembered the cautious, adoring way he always touched her skin. Just as she remembered that she had never bothered to do anything that would prevent pregnancy with him, figuring that she would die long before it became an issue.

There was no denying it when Hinata finally did awaken the Tenseigan: her Otsutsuki chakra had come, not directly from Toneri, but from the baby growing inside of her. She had to believe that Toneri had not meant for this to happen. Because it was, after some thought, the best weapon she had against Sasuke. Rather, it could lead her to one.

"I knew it."

Kurama slowly opened his eyes and trained his gaze on the human standing before him. He knew her, of course, or at least she was not entirely unfamiliar to him. That she now possessed a single Truth-Seeking Ball was news to him, however.

"How did you find me?" he asked, his voice rumbling through the underground cavern.

"The Tenseigan's Chakra Mode, combined with this," she said, gesturing to the ball. "There are only so many non-human chakra sources that contain traces of Otsutsuki chakra. I only had to look until I found the largest. That, and I knew you couldn't be gone like Sasuke claimed. I remember how your chakra felt. Naruto's corpse is still capable of things that should only be possible if some of your chakra is still sealed in it."

"And while you were playing detective, did you ever stop to think that I might kill you just for disturbing me?"

"Why would you do that, when I'm about to set you free? Or do you like being locked away in this prison Sasuke made for you?" She examined the seals affixed to the walls, and began dismantling them. No matter how good she thought she was, Kurama knew she'd be working for at least an hour before he was free.

Kurama snorted. "And you think you can stop the Uchiha?"

"Not without you."

"Why would I help you?"

"Because I'm the only one that's gotten this far. Because I want to avenge Naruto. Because I'm not looking to make another jinchuriki. And because even if you don't help me, you'll never get a better chance to destroy him."

Although Boruto and Sarada never found it, there was indeed an orb that contained a memory of Hinata's battle against Sasuke. They would never see how she turned her Truth-Seeking Ball into a skin-tight barrier. They would never see that barrier used as ninjutsu-resistant armor for Kurama. They would never see Toneri's failsafe weapon: a cannon on the moon that could vaporize any target on Earth, and had enough power to fire a constant stream that would outlast any defense that any Sharingan could provide. And they would never know that Hinata had told him to fire that weapon, whether she won or lost, just to be sure that no trace of Sasuke's evil remained.

They never saw any of this because Sarada began to scream, loudly and shrilly, and when Boruto saw what she saw, he almost screamed, too.

There was a boy in the chamber with him. They had not heard him enter, either because they had been too focused on the memories, or because he simply had no presence. He was standing close enough to Sarada to touch her, and was in fact lightly gripping her arm when Boruto finally noticed him.

The boy was, simultaneously, both of their worst nightmares.

He was blind. His empty eye sockets proved that much. He was also pale, thin, and wearing a shapeless robe that was faded, ancient, and yet still somehow in better condition than its owner.

But the most disturbing thing, and Sarada must have felt it, too, was the very existence of the boy himself. Even though they had almost nothing in common, and almost no one would ever think to connect them in such a way, it was immediately obvious to Boruto.

This boy was Hinata's son by Toneri. This tragic, ghostly thing was this world's attempt to replace Boruto himself.

Boruto acted on pure instinct. He grabbed Sarada's arm, ripped it out of the boy's grasp, and shoved her behind him. But even as he did it, he understood that the boy was viewing them in much the same way that they were viewing him: disbelief, shock, and yes, even a bit of terror.

He hadn't touched Sarada to harm her. He'd only wanted to see if she was real. Because he couldn't believe what every sense other than sight must have been screaming at him.

Boruto saw the boy lick his dry lips. He was going to speak. And Boruto, for one, had no desire to hear it. He didn't want to hear his voice coming out of that mouth. And so even though he had no idea how he did it, he gave a mighty shove, not with his hands but with his mind, and the world shattered around them.

But even as Boruto and Sarada began to fall, and the shards of reality rained down around them, he could still feel the weight of the boy's gaze.

"I told you, I'm fine!"

Boruto grunted and slowly opened his eyes. He was in Sarada's room... on her bed. He immediately sat up, and found Sarada trying to convince her mother that she was okay. Given his current position, and what they'd last been doing, Boruto made an educated guess.

"Did we pass out?"

"Yes," Sakura sighed, firmly ignoring Sarada's glare.

"But we're fine!" Sarada insisted.

Sakura continued to ignore her. "Sasuke says you broke the genjutsu. Which couldn't have been easy."

Boruto shrugged. "I know I didn't want to be in it anymore, but-"

"He says you both broke it, at the same time."

Boruto traded a stunned look with Sarada. "How did you-?" they both started to ask.

"I know how I got out, I've got the Sharingan," Sarada replied. "What do you have?"

"Way too much time spent in those things?" Boruto answered. "You saw maybe half of what I did. I wanted to get out twice as much as you did."

Sakura stared at him. "That's it?"

"That's not enough?" he countered.

Sakura looked suspicious. "I guess it could be, but still..."

"Mama, please!" Sarada cried. "We're both fine! You checked us and didn't find anything wrong, right?"

Boruto frowned. He didn't like what Sarada was doing, because he'd done it himself: saying she was fine just because she really didn't want to talk about what had just happened. Which was bad enough in itself, but brushing off a concerned mother? Boruto decided that maybe he'd done too much of that, too.

"Actually, could you check me again?" Boruto asked. "I don't feel... right."

Sarada shot him an annoyed look, but he ignored her. This would get Sakura off of her back, and Boruto actually did want to be sure there was nothing wrong with him. Given what he'd just seen, he wanted to be sure that he was very, very healthy, and stayed that way.

After a few minutes, Sakura reluctantly announced that she could find nothing wrong with him. This only annoyed Sarada more, and Boruto bowing to Sakura and thanking her did nothing to improve Sarada's mood. It also earned him a funny look from Sakura, because a polite Boruto was clearly not to be trusted, so Boruto and Sarada quickly left the room before she decided to check him again.

"Do you think we should-?" Boruto started to ask.

"I'm not talking about it," Sarada said firmly.

"Uh, okay." Boruto paused, then sighed. "Well, there is something else you should know. Completely unrelated, and very important."

Sarada stared at him warily. "What?"

Boruto tried to think of a way to say "your crazy aunt tried to kill me" nicely, couldn't manage it, and simply shook his head. "It's easier to show you. I need you to come to Tsu-baa's with me."

Tsunade's house was still standing and showed no obvious signs of chain damage from the outside, so Boruto assumed that either Karin had no problems with Tsunade, or Tsunade when angry was much scarier than even he had known. There were, however, a few visible ninja watching the house, and Boruto knew they were separate from Tsunade's usual security team, because those ones didn't let themselves be seen unless they were needed. In any case, no one tried to prevent Boruto and Sarada from approaching the front door, so the ninja must have already heard back from Naruto and Kakashi.

Tsunade yelled for them to come in before Boruto could knock. While he felt she was entitled to be lazy due to her age, he did think that was extremely irresponsible, they could have been anyone barging in. Not that many were insane enough to barge in on Tsunade, but still. And not that Boruto realized at the time that Tsunade was hosting a houseguest that had been able to sense their approach long before they even saw the house.

They found Tsunade drinking tea in her kitchen. At least, Boruto hoped it was tea. She was supposed to be drinking less sake these days, or really none at all. But considering she had saved his life earlier that day, he wasn't about to bug her over it.

There was no sign of Karin, which was going to make this awkward.

"Hello, Tsunade-sama," Sarada greeted, offering a polite bow.

Tsunade nodded. "Good to see you, Sarada-chan. Did Boruto explain why you're here?"

Sarada glanced at him. "No."

Boruto scowled. "Well, since the reason doesn't seem to be in sight, maybe it's a good thing I didn't!"

Tsunade sighed. "Tell her, brat. The reason won't come out until you do. And this has been dragged out long enough."

Boruto turned to face Sarada. "I sent Karin a message last night."

Sarada blinked. "Okay?"

"She responded this morning."

"Okay...?"

"In person."

"She... WHAT?!" Sarada cried.

"That was pretty much my reaction." Actually, his reaction had been closer to gagging and gasping for air, since he was being strangled at the time, but-

"Sarada-chan," said a soft voice from the doorway behind Tsunade.

Sarada spun around and gaped at the sight of Karin, standing there nervously. Boruto was relieved to see that Karin appeared to have showered, changed her clothes, and brushed her hair since he'd last seen her. She was also holding a small box with Sarada's name printed on it.

Sarada didn't move.

"I-I wasn't sure if..." Karin said, then stopped, blushing. "I mean, I wanted to see you, but it wasn't..." She shook her head. "This isn't exactly how I meant to..." Karin shut her eyes and shook her head harder, blinking away tears. "I really just needed to tell-" She stopped again, and said, softly but firmly enough where everyone in the room heard it, despite Karin's intent being the opposite, "Dammit."

Sarada finally moved. She walked over to Karin, stared up at her, slowly reached out and squeezed her hand once, then let go. She immediately activated her Sharingan, circled Karin several times, and squeezed Karin's hand again.

"You're really real," Sarada said at last.

"Yes?" Karin whispered.

Sarada narrowed her eyes. "Are you asking or telling?"

"Telling," Karin said at once, more firmly.

Sarada's face went blank. "You're really real."

"Yes."

Sarada burst into tears and buried her face in her hands.

"Wha... no!" Karin gasped. She began hopping nervously around Sarada, obviously wanting to comfort her, but apparently afraid to touch her without permission. "Sarada-chan, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Please please please don't cry! I'll leave, if you don't want me-"

"NO!" Sarada immediately launched herself at Karin, wrapping her arms around the woman's neck and locking her legs around Karin's waist, forcing her to drop the box and hold onto Sarada. "You're not going ANYWHERE!"

"S-Sarada-chan?" Karin whispered uncertainly as Sarada glared at her up close.

"W-We're going to talk," Sarada murmured. "Y-You're going to tell me things. A-And no more stupid letters, because you're here now, and there's no reason to go back to that, and YOU ARE NOT LEAVING, EVER!"

Karin gaped at her. "I... but-"

"EVER!" Sarada repeated, giving her a little shake. "Say it!"

"Sarada-chan, I-"

"NO! YOU SAY IT RIGHT NOW!"

In response to the obvious need and desperation in Sarada's voice, Karin's stunned expression crumbled, and she began crying freely. "I-I love you, too, Sarada-chan."

"Shut up!" Sarada sobbed, grabbing Karin's face. "You shut up until you say it!"

Karin laughed softly and gently kissed Sarada's forehead.

"Say it," Sarada whimpered, burying her face in Karin's neck. "Please?"

"Ever," Karin agreed at last, closing her eyes and holding Sarada tightly, gently stroking her hair. "I won't leave you, Sarada-chan. I promise."

Boruto didn't know if it was a lie. But despite how much he didn't like Karin, for Sarada's sake, he really hoped it wasn't a lie. It wasn't right, to need someone that much. And Karin needed to fix whatever her appearance had broken in Sarada.

Concluded in Chapter 5: Inheritors

Karin isn't trying to teach Boruto, but he learns something from her, anyway.

Endnotes:

I've decided Tsunade would be Boruto's godmother. Mostly for the simple reason that it would require her to be around him at some point, which so far has not been the case at all. Jiraiya wasn't much of a godfather until later on, but assuming that Tsunade is still in the village somewhere (though she could easily be traveling the world and enjoying her retirement), that shouldn't be the case with her. I assume that Shizune's newfound Tsunade-free life means that Tsunade either has another attendant, or is looking after herself. What I will not assume is that Tsunade is dead. But alive or dead, for Boruto to have gone on for this long without a significant mention for her is almost appalling. I know Boruto doesn't care much about Hokages, but that shouldn't apply to everyone else.

I don't actually believe Hinata could get the Tenseigan this way, but... well, I didn't really want her to have a face sticking out of a random part of her body, either. So this way seemed less... freaky?

Oddly enough, Sarada does not appear to have developed any longlasting issues from Sasuke being absent from her life, since his return. But assuming she had? I think she would harbor a fear of important people vanishing on her, or at least not being around when she wanted them. And she wouldn't show it all of the time. But if she had a big fight with someone and they stormed off, her mind might immediately jump to the possibility of them walking out of her life for good, even if they just went somewhere to cool off for a few hours.

Boruto's fandom has stumped me. Instead of people asking questions like "Where is Tsunade?", all anyone seems to be talking about lately is how Moegi has Wood Style. Which is amazing only in the sense that she really only has it in the sense that it's stated in her profile. I don't want you to think that I hate Moegi. She was a cute girl with a weird hairstyle that grew into a cute woman with a weird hairstyle. But you know what's not required to be a cute woman with a weird hairstyle that's appeared in roughly one panel in Boruto? Wood Style. And you know what pretty much is required of anyone who has Wood Style? Appearing in more than one panel. So I don't see this working out too well. At least, not for anyone who thinks they're actually going to see Moegi using a whole lot of Wood Style. Or even for anyone who thinks they're actually going to see Moegi a whole lot, period. That's kinda her thing: not appearing a whole lot. She'd tell you that herself, except I'm sure she's busy polishing her first place trophy for Ninja Vanish Mastery that she inherited from Tenten. Except replace Ninja with Character.

And to the person who keeps telling me to commit suicide any time I have Karin and Sarada in the same story? Uh, no. I wouldn't be writing if it were that easy to get rid of me. And if I did, you'd have to find someone else to stalk. So I'm really doing you a favor. You're welcome. And I don't even support SasuKarin. Which you might realize if you actually bothered to read. I can see how you might be fooled, but anyone who thinks that isn't paying close enough attention. And also probably isn't reading endnotes, so I'm surely wasting my time mentioning any of this.