Hey everybody, thesaiyanjedi here with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

Now I have to warn you, this particular chapter is going to get dark, or at least really angsty. A lot of emotional drama is going to play out in this chapter that I felt I needed to do. In other words, this chapter has much more to do with the characters than advancing the plot, but I think you guys will get something out of it either way.

So, with that said, lets get to reading!


Chapter 9: The Chain

"Ughh..."

Naruto felt his eyes crack open ever so slightly. He needed to blink a couple of times due to the bright light shining into his eyes. He could also feel that he had a killer headache.

Getting his barrings, he realizes that the light was coming from the bulb hanging from the ceiling. He was in a place he knew like the back of his own hand. It was his master bedroom, and he was sleeping in his and Sakura's bed.

'Sakura!'

The Orange Hokage thrust himself forward in shock when he remembered what had happened at the train station.

"Easy Naruto, don't force yourself."

Turning his head to the side, the blonde saw his father sitting in a chair next to his bed. He was sitting in a fairly relaxed posture, totally calm and unassuming.

"D-Dad?"

"That's me."

Naruto shook his head to get himself back together and to try to get over his damned headache. "W-What happened? Why am I in bed? Where's Sakura?"

"I'll be happy to answer your questions son," Minato said. "One, you got knocked out by Sasuke. Two, because your mother and I carried you back here. And three, she's at her parent's apartment. She's fine. Hanami's there too."

"Oh..." He laid back down on the pillow looking up at the ceiling again. "I'm sure she must be furious with me, huh?"

"No, she's already forgiven you."

"Huh?!" Naruto instantly shot up again at what his father had just said. "What are you talking about?"

Minato started explaining. "After Sasuke knocked you out, Shinachiku stepped in before things got any worse. He explained that the boy you brought with you is your son from another world where another version of you is married to Hinata instead of Sakura."

"Really? And they believed him?"

"Oh course not. That's when Shina explained to us what happened inside that cave in the Land of Lightning when he found the chakra gem. Since then we've had Ino probe into the boy's mind and she was able to confirm that what he is saying is true, or at least he believes its all true."

Naruto looked down for a moment before looking back up and continuing. "You think the kid's crazy, don't you?"

Minato folded his arms. "I think that I speak from experience when I say that the chakra gems are capable of amazing things. Look at your mother and I, it was only because Taka used one of those gems that the two of us are even alive right now."

The younger blonde put on a weak smile before getting serious again. "Where is Boruto now?"

"Shikamaru and Sasuke have him in quarantine right now. They're pressing him for questions left and right to get as much information out of him as they can." The elder blonde paused before continuing. "I actually feel sorry for him."

"What do you mean dad?"

"Well, regardless of what universe he may come from, if he is truly your son, then I am still his grandfather."

"...I guess, but—"

"I can't begin to imagine what this all must be like for him. To suddenly arrive in a strange world so much like his own, yet a world where he doesn't exist because his parents never got together. I wonder if Shina would have felt the same way if he had gotten himself stuck in Boruto's world instead?"

Naruto found himself unable to say anything for a moment, seemingly taking in what his father had just said. He had tried hard to get his head into Bolt's predicament, but even now it was no cakewalk. Frankly, thinking about all of this was only making his stupid headache even worse!

Minato stood up from his chair. "Boruto's identity had been classified an S-ranked secret, even from the Elders thank goodness. Besides those at the train station today, only your mother and I, Master Jiraiya, Lady Tsunade, Kakashi, Shizune, Shikamaru, Temari, Ino and Sai know the truth. None of them are mad at you...yet."

"But Sasuke—?"

"Is deeply sorry for jumping to conclusions and assuming you and Hinata were having an affair."

The younger blonde seemed surprised. "Sasuke apologized?"

"Not out loud." Minato smirked, causing his son to smirk back. That was Sasuke's pride in a nutshell.

But then, another terrible thought crossed the Hokage's mind. "Dad, what about Hinata? Does she know?"

"No," Minato was quick to answer. "Shikamaru was quick to reason that to go and tell Hinata or Kiba or Neji about any of this at this time would be extremely unwise."

"Does the kid know about that decision?

"Yes."

"Is he taking it well?"

"No."

Naruto hung his head and sighed before throwing off the covers and getting out of bed. "I need to go see Sakura."

"I would advise against that."

"But you said—?"

"I said that Sakura's forgiven you. That doesn't mean that things might not be awkward between you two as long as the boy is here."

Naruto was erratic. "But I can't just stay here and do nothing!"

"No, you cannot." Minato put his hand on his son's shoulder. "But take it from someone with experience, a Hokage needs to act not only with his heart but with his mind. Your heart might tell you to go to Sakura, but what does your brain tell you?"

Naruto merely stared at his father for a moment before turning his head to the side and cursing under his breath. "Damn it."

Since he was already up, he headed over to his closet to pick out a new set of clothes. Minato looked on in pity.

'I know you love her son, and she loves you...just hang in there.'


"AAAHHH!"

Sakura woke up in a cold sweat. Looking around, she was in her old childhood bedroom, in her old bed. It was obviously much more plain after she had moved in with Naruto, but the space was unmistakable.

But she was immediately taken out of her thoughts when the door flung open and an older woman with fair skin, green eyes like Sakura herself, and shoulder-length, blonde hair with a single bang falling down her face. She was dressed in her familiar white qipao dress with three red circular designs at the bottom of the front of her dress as well as the back. She wore pink ¾-length pants along with brown sandals.

"Sakura!" Mebuki burst in. "What happened?!"

"Mom!" Sakura exclaimed, relieved to see her there.

"Its alright sweetheart." Mabuki came up and hugged the fully grown woman that, in her heart, would always be her little girl. "Its okay."

"I-I'm alright mom, really..." Sakura tired to reassure her while returning the hug. "I just...had a nightmare, that's all."

Mebuki broke up the hug. "What were you dreaming about sweetie?"

The pinkette looked to the side in what appeared to be shame. "I don't feel like talking about it..."

Getting the message, Mebuki decided that the best thing she could do was to give her daughter some space. "Alright dear, just know that I'm right down the hall if you need me."

"I know mom. I love you."

"I love you too dear." With that, Mebuki shut the door behind her, leaving Sakura alone in her room.

Left alone to her thoughts, she found herself drifting back to what had happened, to the last thing she remembered since she'd blacked out at the train station this afternoon...


...

"Uhhh..."

Sakura woke up in a room she did not immediately recognize...That is, until she got a clear look at the ceiling and the white walls, at which point it became crystal clear where she was: in bed in one of her own hospital rooms.

"Mommy?"

The pinkette turned her head to see the worried face of her daughter at her bedside. Cracking the most sincere smile she could, she put on a smile and said, "Mommy's alright sweetie."

Hanami wanted to giver her mother a hug, but she was stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hanami, could you please wait outside while the grown ups have a talk?"

"H-Hai Uncle Sasuke," she said with a noticeable sense of worry in her voice.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Shizune volunteered.

Sasuke and the others nodded as the middle aged woman escorted the girl outside of the room. That left Sakura still in bed with Sasuke, Karin, Shikamaru, Sai and Ino in the room with her. Oh, and there were two other people with her as well, her son and that mysterious boy she'd met at the train station today.

"How did I get here?" was the first question that Sakura asked.

"Sasuke and I called a stretcher to bring you here after you passed out," Karin explained.

Her feminine instincts kicking in, Sakura quickly ran her hands along her increasingly bulbous stomach.

"The baby's fine," Shikamaru said. "We had a nurse do a check up on you and they didn't find any abnormalities. But there would have been if Shinachiku hadn't caught you before you hit your head on the concrete."

That was when she fully remembered everything that happened. "Where's Naruto?"

"He's back at home mom," Shinachiku spoke, making his presence known. "Grandma and grandpa took him back home after Uncle Sasuke knocked him out."

Sasuke blushed. "I, err...might have overreacted a bit."

Her memories of what happened flashed back to her. What that boy said, what her Naruto did...She could feel the tears already starting to well up in her eyes...

"Mom, dad didn't cheat on you."

The woman blinked her tears away at her son's words. "What? I don't..."

"Sakura," Sai spoke up, "Shinachiku and Boruto told us everything."

"Boruto?"

Shinachiku nudged the younger blonde with his arm and pointed outwards towards his mother. Somewhat awkwardly, the boy stepped forward and approached the confused woman's bed.

"Aunt—I mean, Lady Sakura, my name is Boruto. I'm..." The boy darted his eyes back and forth before continuing, almost as if his pride left him reluctant to say anything, and he probably wouldn't have had he not heard Shinachiku clenching his fist right behind him.

"...I'm sorry about what I said. I never meant to say anything that could have gotten you hurt." His next words really had him gritting his teeth. "...Or your baby."

Sakura suddenly got angry at the boy. "Was all of this just a prank then?! Young man when I find old who your real parents are I know they will—!"

"It wasn't a joke mom." Shinachiku stepped forward. "I think...I think Boruto is from another universe, or an alternate reality, whatever sci-fi crap you want to call it! But my point, in whatever world he comes from, it's one where dad got married to Aunt Hinata instead of you."

Sakura was almost at a loss for words. "Shina, that doesn't make any sense."

"Yes, it does."

The boy then reached into his pocket and pulled out the violet chakra gems that he and his team found in that cave. It's light glowed and illuminated the entire room with it's lavender radiance.

"Mom," Shina spoke again as he held the gem out, "my team and I found this in the Land of Lightning. When I touched it there was a bright purple light, and when it passed Bolt was there with us. Both him and I were both touching the gem."

Sakura's eyes darted back and forth from her real son to this strange boy that was now standing next to him. This time, she could not find the words to say anything.

"I already looked into the boy's mind myself," Ino said. "I listened to his whole story and he answered all of our questions. He wasn't lying."

"And cat scans didn't reveal any traces of any kind of mental damage or trauma," Sai added.

"And besides," Sasuke spoke up, "we're talking about one of the chakra gems here. Godlike powers none of us can fully understand. All of these facts tell me that this boy's story, however farfetched it may seem, is most likely the truth."

Sakura turned back to the mysterious boy and looked him in the eye. He looked so much like Naruto at this boy's age that it was actually scary.

"We are still waiting for Naruto to come too so we can bring him in for a DNA test—"

"Don't bother," Sakura cut off Shikamaru. "Look at him. It's as plain as day that, wherever he's from, that Naruto is his father."

The pinkette looked down at her lap, frowning. 'And I'm not his mother...'

"Kid," Sasuke suddenly called out, getting the mysterious boy's attention.

"Yes?"

"Earlier, you called me 'uncle' and then 'sensei.' Why?"

Turning his head only briefly to Shinachiku, Bolt figured that he might as well lay everything out on the table. "Well, where I come from, you'd been training me as your student for the last few days, getting me ready for the Chūnin Exams."

Sasuke stared at the boy intently, looking for any trace of a lie...He could find none.

"I see. And why did you call me your uncle?"

"Well, I just...I don't know, you are so close to my dad and all. I guess besides my Aunt Hanabi, you and Sakura are the closest things to an aunt and uncle me and my sister have."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Karin shut everything down by waving her hands in the air. "Stop right there kid! What do you mean he and Sakura?"

"Umm, well..."

"Aunt Karin," Shinachiku sighed, "according to Boruto, in his world Uncle Sasuke got married to my mom instead of you. There, they are Sarada's parents...I'm sorry."

Karin let out a loud gasp. She turned to face her husband who did not have any visible reaction on his visage...at least not while she was looking.

Making eye contact with Sakura, the poor pinkette was stuck in a horrific stupor. She could say nothing, it was all too much for her to take in. It was like some kind of bad dream.

Looking back to him, she could only hear Sasuke utter one word to her. "Karin..."

The red-haired Uzumaki couldn't take it. She couldn't stand any of it. Even if it was all in another world, even if he hadn't done anything wrong, it was still too much, to soon. She threw the hospital room door wide open and ran out of the room, tears falling down her face.

"Sasuke!" Ino snapped. "What are you waiting for?! Go after her!"

"And tell her what?!" he snapped back. "I did nothing wrong and she knows it. If I speak to her like she is now all it will do is make things worse."

Eyes like daggers, the Uchiha grabbed the boy that was at the heart of all of this by his shirt and hoisted him in the air. "You! Look what you've done you stupid brat!"

"Sasuke!" Sai yelled. "Put the boy down!"

"Uncle!" Shinachiku tried to interject. "Stop it!"

"Why are you defending him kid?" Sasuke snapped back. "Seems to me that ever since this kid showed up he's been nothing but trouble for all of us!"

Boruto gasped as he tried his best to speak even in Sasuke's tight grasp. "S-Sensei..."

"Don't call me that! I'm not you're sensei and I sure as fuck am not your uncle either!"

"Sasuke."

The Uchiha's rage then settled down when he heard the next voice speaking to him. Sakura had finally gotten her wits back, and had gotten herself out of bed no less.

"None of this is his fault. He was just telling the truth. Please, let him go."

Turning back to the boy in his grip, Sasuke just let go and dropped him to the floor.

At that point Shikamaru decided that maybe he should intervene. "Listen, until we have all of this straightened out and find a way to get this kid back to wherever he came from, I think its for the best that this remain an S-level secret, just between us and those we can trust to keep quiet."

"Who else did you have in mind?" Sai questioned.

"The way I see it, Lord Fourth and his wife are going to find out about this no matter what. Master Jiraiya, Lady Tsunade, and Kakashi ought to be allowed into the loop also."

Boruto spoke up himself. "...What about...What about my mom?"

The Nara, the Uchiha, and Sai all looked to each other in silent conversation, while the two women in the room, particularly Sakura, appeared uncomfortable with their friend's particular role in this.

"No," Shikamaru said, "I don't think telling Hinata about you would be a good idea."

"What?!" Bolt yelled in shock. "But why?!"

"Hinata has always been rather...prone to surprise and emotion. Given her past, there is no telling what might happen if she found out that you were her and Naruto's child in another world." Sai explained. "I think Kiba will take it particularly hard."

"Worse," Shikamaru added, "if word were to get out that Naruto has a child with a different woman than his wife, then the bizarre circumstances behind it are bound to get misinterpreted, and that could lead to a scandal that could cost our Hokage his title, and all rank he has as a ninja."

Bolt couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But...But she's my MOM!"

"I'm sorry Bolt," Ino tried saying sincerely, "but I think they're right about this. Remember that in this world Hinata isn't your mother. She's married to another man."

"Face it kid," Sasuke stated bluntly, "you don't exist here."

Sakura could see the poor boy's mind shatter at those last, utterly cold words. He could tell that he could hardly pay attention anymore as Shikamaru went on explaining how they could arrange for the boy to stay quarantined in an apartment inside the village until a solution to this problem could be found.

She didn't know if she should, but Sakura found herself feeling sorry for the boy...

As Shikamaru kept talking, she also found herself making eye contact with Sasuke. An intense blush spread across her face, as thoughts forcefully entered her mind that left her unable to look at him anymore.

Although, if she had paid attention for any longer, she might have caught the Uchiha avoiding eye contact with her in discomfort.

"Come on," Shikamaru said to Bolt, "I'll take you to where you'll be staying."

"No!" Bolt protested. "No! I want to see my mom!"

"I told why we can't do that."

"I don't care! I want to see her. I-I...I've had it with you people! I want to get back home! I want to see mom and Himawari again! I want out of this damned nightmare! NOW!"

The boy then shocked everybody boy pulling a spare kunai he had hidden in his sleeve! "And I'll take out any of you bastards who gets in my wa—AAGGHHH!"

The boy's maddened threat was cut short when he felt a sudden blow to the back of the neck. His weapons clanging to the floor, the boy fell face first onto said floor, the singular thought going through his mind being 'Damn you...'

As soon as the boy fell out of their sight, the adults were able to clearly see whom was responsible for this...Shinachiku.

The thing was though, as Sakura was quick to determine, her son seemed to take no pleasure in what he'd done. Making eye contact with her, his eyes seemed to say everything to his mother that his voice could not. And at the end of it, it ultimately boiled down to two simple words: 'I'm sorry...'

...


Sakura allowed her memories of that conversation, of this whole damned day, to consume her mind as she sat there in her childhood bed. There was no use holding it all in, all she could do was think of him, him, and while she loved him, and she know he loved her, right now all thinking of him could do was make her cry, her tears falling from her face onto her stomach, within which their unborn child was still growing...

'Naruto...'


Karin was back home at her and Sasuke's home sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. She was no longer crying, but her tears still stained her face, her makeup ruined. Not that she gave a damn about any of that.

It wasn't his fault, he'd done nothing wrong, she knew that. But she felt broken anyway, she couldn't help it. Even if in this world he was hers, she had to wrestle with the sudden reality that in another life he was hers instead. The image of him and Sakura together, holding hands, laughing, raising a daughter, her daughter, of them both in their bedroom at night in fits of passion... It was almost enough to make her vomit.

'This is so fucked up...'

Slumping further into the sofa, she could feel a single, fresh tear forming as his name ran through her brain all over again.

'Sasuke...'


Naruto was downstairs in his parlor room. He was behind the bar pouring himself a very large drink.

To say that he was feeling depressed was an understatement. He was doing what his father suggested and giving Sakura her space. Hell, for all he knew Hizashi and Mebuki were probably super pissed at him anyway.

'Gah! I wanted to ease them all into this. I wanted to avoid all of this misunderstanding... And now look where its gotten me...God this is fucked up...'

Staring at his glass, he then took a large gulp and just stared at the far wall.

'Sakura...'


Sasuke was off of work, but he wasn't at home. No, he was sitting at a local bar getting drunk.

"Here you go sir," the bartender said as he poured him a glass.

"Leave the bottle."

Shacking his head, the bartender just did as he was told and carried on with his business.

After taking a drink, the Uchiha found himself just staring at the empty glass. He was squeezing it extra hard, almost enough to make the glass crack. He may not have intended it, but he was thinking about a certain blonde haired kid as he was doing so...Of course, then the rational mind came back to him and he owned up to the truth that this Boruto kid wasn't to blame for any of this, he was just telling the truth.

'Me and Sakura...sweet Sage...' He poured himself another drink to get that image out of his head. All the while allowing her name to repeat itself over and over.

'Karin...'


Boruto woke up on top of a nice, clean bed. He was in a rather nice apartment, all on his own. His memory was quick to return and realize what all of this meant.

'You know, I am really getting fed up with people knocking me out all the time!'

Quickly getting off the bed, he bolted to the door, only to find that it was locked from the outside. 'Of course.'

He then tried running over to the window, pulling the curtains back and trying to open it, seeing that it was designed to remain locked. 'Figures.'

He looked around the room for something, anything he could find to help him. He found a large, heavy paperweight sitting on a desk, grabbed it, and threw it at the window with all of his strength...The window didn't even get a crack!

"Damn it!" Boruto slumped down on the carpeted floor. Shikadai's dad was right, he was in quarantine alright. In other words, he was trapped.

Thinking about his increasingly irritating situation, and about everything that happened in Sakura's hospital room, the boy could only come to a single, unalterable conclusion. 'I fucked everything up.'


Shinachiku was sitting at a table in the hospital cafeteria. He was looking at nothing as he held a single, open can of soda in his hand as it was sat upon the table, its cold, perspiring texture being of no interested to him whatsoever. Nor was the half-eaten sandwich sitting on the plate right in front of him.

No, all he could think about was how his family was falling apart ever since he found that stupid gem he had in his pocket. Sage! He wanted to just take the damned thing and chuck in into the trash and be done with it!

But no, he kept it instead. How else were they ever going to figure out how to get Bolt back home, wherever that was?

Funny, the more he thought about all of this, the more that mysterious voice from his vision kept crawling back into his mind:

"This universe, this world, is only one of an infinite number. Worlds without end. Some benevolent and just...Others corrupt and filled with malice.

"Reality and time, two things, two forces, two powers, two gems. Both bound together by symbiosis. For one can have an indelible effect on the other, for the path of one can change the course of the other. Tell my child, have you ever made a choice in your life? Have you ever stopped to wonder what your life would be like if you hadn't made that choice?

"For every choice we make, a new world, a new reality is created. Some realities as so similar to the one we call home, that one can spend a lifetime trying to track down even the slightest point of difference. Other realities are so totally different than what we call home, that they completely defy our ability to comprehend them. There are worlds where your character is completely different. Worlds where the path you follow is different. Worlds where you do not exist."

'Why...Why are you doing this to me?!'

"To make you see...To make you understand the door the gem that has opened to you...To give you perspective...Of reality...And the universe...And how small you are in it.

"Who are you, in this vast multiverse, Shinachiku Uzumaki?"

'I...I am...'

"You think you are the only son of Naruto Uzumaki? You have no idea how wrong you actually are... Perhaps I can show you?"

'No...No...NOOOOOOO!"

Snapping back to reality, Shinachiku reaching into his picket, grabbed the gem, and was about the hurl the blasted thing at the wall!

"Oniichan?"

That voice instantly calmed him down. Putting the gem away again, he turned to the source, he saw Hanami there, with someone else very special to him at her side.

"Sarada?"

"I came here and found her with Shizune," she explained as they both approached him. "I told her I'd look after Hanami and come find you while she needed to run an errand for Lady Tsunade."

"I see."

Hanami took up a chair next to her big brother. "Oniichan, is mommy going to be alright?"

"..."

"Oniichan?"

"Yeah, yeah sis, mommy's going to be fine. Daddy too." It was a lie of course. The truth is he had no idea himself. He turned to his girlfriend. "They took Boruto away?"

"Yeah, to quarantine."

"...I really screwed up didn't I?"

"Hey," Sarada said as she came over and hugged him from behind. "None of this is your fault."

'Then whose fault is it?' he thought as his mind drifted bck to the chakra gem he still had in his pocket.

"Oniichan?"

"Hmm?"

Hanami pushed her chair over to hug his brother's waist. "I'm worried."

He returned the hug, along with Sarada. "Me too..."

...

...

...

So much love, so much pain, so much confusion on all sides. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Karin, Shinachiku, and even Boruto...It was like the chain that was holding all of them together was breaking and none of them knew quite how to fix it...

...

...

...

Listen to the wind blow...
Watch the sun rise
Run in the shadows...
Damn your love, damn your lies!

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
We would never break the chain
(Never break the chain)

And if you don't love me now
(You don't love me now)
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
We would never break the chain
(Never break the chain)

Listen to the wind blow...
Down comes the night
Run in the shadows...
Damn your love, damn your lies!
Break the silence
Damn the dark, damn the light!

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
We would never break the chain
(Never break the chain)

And if you don't love me now
(You don't love me now)
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
We would never break the chain
(Never break the chain)

And if you don't love me now
(You don't love me now)
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
We would never break the chain
(Never break the chain)

...

...

Knock! Knock!

Mebuki got up from her seat and went to the front door. Opening it, she scowled in annoyance at who was on the other side.

"Oh, its you."

"...Hey Mebuki. Is Sakura here?"

"She's in her room, but I don't think you should be going up there."

"What are you talking about?"

Mebuki shut the door behind her and stood before her son-in-law. "Listen Naruto," she said crossing her arms, "I like you, I really do, but this is my little girl we're talking about here. Now I don't know what kind of a fight you two must have had to make here leave home like this, but if I find out its your fault, so help me I'll—!"

"Daddy?"

The older woman was cut off when she heard the door open and saw Hanami poking her head out.

"Hanami, sweetie, go back inside—"

"Daddy!" Hanami, ever the innocent, was quick to run up to her father and hug his legs.

Naruto returned the hug. "Hi sweetheart. Are you alright?"

"I'm alright, but mommy's seems sad."

Naruto frowned. "I see..."

"Hanami, go back inside," Mebuki told her again with just a touch more force. This time, the girl took the hint and went back inside the apartment.

Mebuiki turned back to the man she feared was at the heart of all of this. "Naruto, what is this all about? Why is my daughter up in her old room crying?"

Naruto wanted to explain it to her so desperately, but he couldn't. To say anything to her, or anyone else, about Bolt would go against the top level secret it has wisely been declared. Besides, his mother-in-law was one of the absolute last people he needed to be getting the wrong idea right now.

"I...I can't tell you that. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean you can't tell me?"

"I'm sorry Mebuki, but it would only make things worse. Now please, I need to see Saku—AGH!"

The woman grabbed her son-in-law—her Hokage—by his shirt and glared him in the eye. "Listen to me kid, she may be your wife, but she's my daughter! Now whatever's going on, you'd damn well better set it right, or there will be no place in this entire village where you can go to escape my wrath! GOT IT!"

Naruto actually gulped, his mother-in-law's temper seeming very familiar to her own daughter's. "Got it."

She roughly let him go and opened the door for him without another word. Stepping inside, he stepped through the apartment and made his way down the hall towards Sakura's room.

"Daddy?"

He stopped at the voice and put on one of his signature smiles. "Wait here sweetie, mom and dad need to have a talk. Ok?"

"'Kay."

As he continued walking, he saw Hizashi standing there with his arms crossed. The two men made eye contact; neither of them said anything, their eyes did all the talking for them.

He kept walking until he made it to a familiar door. Taking a deep breath, he knocked.

"Mom?" he heard her beautiful voice saying on the other side.

"N-No Sakura, its me."

"Naruto?"

"Yes. Can I come in? Please?"

"...Sure."

Taking the invitation, he opened the door. When he did, he saw her sitting there on her bed. Her hair was a little bit disheveled and he could tell that her face had some relatively recent tear stains lining it.

"Hi," was the best thing he could come up with to start with.

"Hi," she said back.

Closing the door behind him, he set up a quick Silencing Jutsu to ensure that nobody else in the apartment would hear what was about to be said.

"My umm...my dad told me you already know about Boruto?"

Sakura was silent for a moment before answering. "Yeah, I know."

"Well, umm...I know this must be, umm, awkward for you right now...me too. But Sakura, you have to understand that I would never—"

"Oh stop it Naruto! You know I can't be mad a you!"

"I do?"

She groaned in irritation. "Look, I get it. You, this version of you, isn't that boy's father. But some other Naruto, in some other world, is his father, and I'm not his mother. Hinata is."

"But—"

"Hinata, the girl we could all tell had a crush on you since she you two were kids."

"But—"

"The girl this version of you dated only once before you and I confessed our love and our Hinata stepped aside for us to be together."

"Sakura—"

"And me, that version of me is with Sasuke instead of you, and Sarada is my daughter instead of Karin's. Is that right?!"

"...Yeah, that pretty much covers it."

Sakura put her head in her hand. "You, the boy, Hinata...I can't be mad at anybody here. None of us did anything wrong."

"Then what is the matter? Why did you cry?"

The pinkette said nothing.

"Sakura?"

She turned back to face him slowly. "I had a dream...I had come home and went to our room..."

"And?"

She almost couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. "...And you were there...with her."

The blonde's eyes widened in horror as she continued.

"You two...you were nude. She was on top of you. She was yelling out loud as you made love...The same way we always do."

"Sakura—"

"You two...you kept going. She was getting close, it was obvious. I wanted to leave, I was desperate to leave...but my body couldn't move...I...I had to watch...I had to watch all of it."

She broke down, crying, but she wiped her eyes and her nose because, and much as it hurt, she still had more to say. "You...you both came...She fell upon you and you held her...And then she...she..."

Naruto, horrified, dared to question her. "She did what?"

"...She looked towards the crack in the door. She looked towards me...and she smiled. Then you did the same. You both knew I was there! You knew and you did it anyway!"

"..."

"And then..." Sakura felt like she was going to throw up in her mouth. "...And then you did it again, this time facing me! I could see everything!"

"Sakura, please—"

"And...and then Sasuke showed up—"

"Enough!" Naruto snapped. "I don't want to hear any more of this! I would never do that to you! I could never even think of doing that to you! I love you! And you know that!"

"OF COURSE I DO!"

The silence was long...very long. Neither one of them could come up with anything to say. Sakura felt tears forming in her eyes again.

"Naruto..."

"Yes?"

She got off her bed and practically ran into his arms, crying into his chest and grabbing onto his shirt. "Promise me."

"What?"

"Promise me these gems, this boy, Taka, all of it... Promise me it won't destroy us?"

Without a moment's hesitation, he wrapped his arms possessively around her and planted a soft kiss upon her forehead. "I promise..."


About a days journey away from the Hidden Leaf Village, a familiar foe in a hooded cloak made his trek along the forest floor. He wasn't leaping from the treetops, nor was he taking any advantage of his ninja speed. He was just walking, as leisurely as if he were on holiday. After all, he had all the time in the world.

As the figure walked, he felt around inside of his pocket, his fingers wrapping around a small orange jewel, one that glowed with a shining vermilion light.

'It's about time Nine-Tails,' the stranger said to himself. 'It's about time...'


Hmm...this doesn't seem too good, does it?

Well, that was the end of the chapter, and I have to say, this is probably the darkest, most depressing thing I have written so far on this site. There will definitely be some bigger, most exciting things to come in the future, but here I felt I needed to take a time out to really get into the heads of all the characters and address the kind of turmoil that Boruto's arrival has caused them. It's not that Boruto is some kind of hellspawn that exists to destroy their lives, but just his being here, in a universe where he is not supposed to exist, is naturally causing some extreme discomfort for everyone. Seriously, if you all of a sudden discovered the existence of an alternate reality where your best friend married and had children with your lover instead off you, wouldn't that make things really awkward for a while?

The song in this chapter is called "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac. You may have heard it recently on the soundtrack to "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." I felt it was a good song choice to address the kind of fracturing of both the Uzumaki and the Uchiha families at this point in the story, similar to how it was used to highlight how the Guardians were seemingly on the verge of breaking apart in that film. I also made the intentional choice not to include the final part of the song here, for reasons that may or may not pay off in future chapters.

Not any pop culture references to talk about in this chapter, but there is something I wanted to speak to all of you guys about. You see, Sakura's nightmare...I did at one point consider maybe including that in this chapter. I quickly rejected it and instead reduced it to her describing it to him for two reasons: first, because forcing her to recount it herself would make it feel even more devastating, and second, because I did not want to story to be bumped up to an M rating just because of one scene.

That being said, I might be open to turning that nightmare into a one shot story in its own right, sort of a deleted scene from "Shinachiku's Next Adventure." But, if I do produce that, it will definitely be the darkest thing I have ever written. For that reason, I have decided to leave it up to you whether or not I should write the scene or not. Feel free to leave a comment on whether or not you would like to see the nightmare scene in a one shot or not.

I think that's all I have to say for this one. Thank you all so much for reading, and I look forward to seeing you back again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!