The True Successor

Naruto and Tobi stood face to face for the very first time.

"WIND RELEASE: AIR BULLET!" Tobi wasted no time and let loose a highly compressed air bullet towards Naruto, but with his swiftness Naruto jumped up into the air just in time to avoid the attack and now prepared his own.

"WIND RELEASE: BARRAGE AIR PALMS!" Naruto responded by thrusting his palms multiple times, sending numerous bursts of air towards Tobi at once. This was in fact one of Hinata's signature techniques that Naruto had adopted into his own during their time as a team, although he used his wind style affinity to perform the technique as opposed to the Hyuga's traditional ways.

The barrage of air palms normally meant the attack covered a wide area and was difficult to dodge, but Tobi tossed one of his kunai behind him and instantly teleported out of the area of effect with a yellow flash, landing far away. It was at this point that Naruto took notice of the two special kunai in Tobi's hands and the signature yellow flash. They were all too familiar to him.

"Those Kunai…that technique…they belonged to my dad? WHO ARE YOU!?" Naruto was shocked to say the least.

"I am your shadow…the shadow of the fourth Hokage." Tobi said in a very grim tone which almost instantly turned into a jolly and cheerful one the next moment. "But you can call me Tobi, the masked menace who the kids are scared of at night!"

Tobi raised his hands next to his face and squirmed his fingers around to replicate the classic hand motion of a monster when it's chasing its victim. Unfortunately he looked more comical than scary, which wasn't his intention. Before he could say anything more though, several large balls of flame rained down on to Tobi's position like artillery strikes.

"Am I hallucinating or is it raining fire right now?" The masked perpetrator asked in awe as he teleported away from the attacks once again.

A reddish-orange ethereal Leopard landed next to Naruto, arriving to the scene as fast as she could. "That's him! That's Tobi, the one I told you about! Be careful, he's incredibly dangerous!"

"Are you serious!?" Naruto looked from Houka to Tobi and finally comprehended who it was he was truly facing right now. This was the man who allegedly tried to kidnap Boruto not too long ago and presumably he was here to attempt it again. There was no way he could let him walk away after that. "You're here for Boruto aren't you?"

"Eh? How did you know?" Tobi seemed genuinely surprised.

"Don't play dumb. We fought the last time. You're not going to get your hands on the child, not now, not ever." Houka said in an uncharacteristically aggressive tone. She was in full on defensive mode for Boruto.

Menma, the one behind Tobi's mask right now realised that his father must have faced Houka when he fought Hinata as Tobi before. Thus he decided to play along. "Well I kind of failed last time but I did say I'd be back. So here I am. This time I'll get the boy for sure. Hi Boruto, Tobi is here for you and he's got lots of candy!"

Boruto thus far was simply watching in awe at all the unbelievable things that were happening in front of him, from the collision between two real shinobi and the ethereal Leopard looking beast that suddenly appeared next to his master. It was too much to take in, but Tobi calling his name finally snapped him out of his trance and he felt annoyed that the masked man was treating him like a dumb little kid. "Are you kidding me? Candy? I'm not gonna fall for the oldest trick in the book you creep!"

"Boruto, stay back and stay down!" Naruto ordered his son as he got in between Tobi's line of sight to the young boy, not too amused by Tobi's carefree nature. "If you think I'm going to let you put a finger on the boy then you're delusional. In fact I'm gonna make your pay for your transgressions right now."

Even though Naruto was being deadly serious, Tobi had other enquiries in mind.

"Actually, leaving all that complicated stuff aside for a second, I had a question for you Hokage. Is that your pet?" He asked pointing curiously at Houka. "I want a talking, fire-breathing, energy cat of my own. Where can I get one?"

"I'm not his pet! I'm his wi…I mean…I'M NOT HIS PET!" Houka emphasized, clearly flustered. "Also I'm not a cat. I'm a Leopard!"

"That means you're a talking, fire breathing big energy cat. That's far out man! Now I want you even more kitty."

"AS I TOLD YOU JUST NOW, I'M A LEOPARD, NOT A CAT!" Houka yelled back in annoyance this time, surprising even Naruto, who always knew her to have inherited Hinata's gentle and soft-spoken side. Clearly Tobi was getting under her skin.

"Oh snap, kitty's angry at me. Don't worry little kitty, I mean big kitty. Come here. I've got a ball of yarn for you. I heard cats really like playing with these."

Before Tobi could finish, he found a giant ball of flame headed straight at him courtesy of Houka, which he barely managed to backflip over.

"Whoa, that was super dangerous! Although it's really cool that you can breathe fire and stuff, you can't be doing that at home you know. You almost made barbeque out of Tobi. Wait…why does it smell like something's burning?" Tobi turned around only to find the tail end of his cloak in flames.

"BWAAAAAAAAAA! MY CLOAK'S ON FIRE! MY CLOAK'S ON FIRE! HELP, SOMEBODY CALL THE FIRE BRIGADE! HEEEEEEEEELP!" Tobi screamed in fear as he ran in circles around where he was previously standing. "Oh wait, what was the protocol again for fire emergencies? I remember! Stop, drop and roll! Stop, drop and roll!"

Tobi heeded his own advice and started rolling around on the ground like a mad man and finally managed to put out the flames.

"That was close. My beautiful cloak was almost lost in that little scuffle. You're gonna pay for that! Here, take this!" Tobi in his fit of rage over his favourite half burnt cloak took out a third kunai with a paper bomb wrapped around it and threw it at his enemies.

Naruto and Houka shared a knowing glance as though they could read each other's minds and exhaled intense bursts of wind and fire respectively at their enemy. "COMBINED NINJA ART: GREAT FANNED FLAMES!"

Naruto's wind intensified Houka's flame and made it travel towards their target at a blistering speed, engulfing everything in its path. Needless to say the kunai was no longer in existence and Tobi was high up in the sky, having teleported up there for safety.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?" He complained as he landed back on the ground, which had been scorched to bits. "I just threw a flippin kunai at you and you try to turn me into fried chicken? Talk about overkill."

"Enough of your games!" Both Naruto and Houka warned in unison. They were both now at their wits end with Tobi's antics.

"Let's end this together, just like old times." Houka asked while looking at Naruto.

"Wait, really? You mean you want to join with me?" Naruto was surprised to hear the proposition. Even though Houka was almost always averse to fighting, but in the rare occasions that she combined her powers with Naruto, the two of them were an unstoppable force.

"Indeed. This time we cannot afford to hold back or take a chance. We have to end this threat for Boruto's sake. That is why I want you to become one with me." Houka requested in the most literal sense.

Naruto nodded and took a deep breath, getting ready to join together with Houka. He held his right hand over her head and with the other he lifted his shirt to expose a seal on his midsection, one that he had especially created for this very purpose many years ago.

"Uzumaki Clan's Secret Technique!" Naruto opened up the seal in his stomach with his left hand, and with one tap of his right hand on Houka, her entire body dematerialised and was instantly absorbed into Naruto through the open seal. Once her essence was completely inside him he closed the seal once more, completing their metamorphosis process.

However, not having done this for years, Naruto was instantly overwhelmed by the new presence within his body and he dropped on to his knees feeling nauseous.

"Naruto-kun, we're out of sync! You must relax and accept me within you, or your body will get burned by my essence!" Houka warned directly into his mind, finding it difficult to find a stable place within him.

"I'm trying. I can feel you inside me…your very essence...it's so hot!" Naruto felt like a fire was burning up his body from the inside and he tried to suppress it.

"Naruto-kun, remember how we joined together in the past. Don't try to suppress that feeling. Trust me and give yourself in to that burning sensation. ALLOW ME TO CONSUME YOU!" Houka's voice rang through Naruto's mind and he remembered the trust that was required for the two of them to connect together. Thus he closed his eyes and stopped fighting against that burning sensation within him, instead opting to let it all go and surrender himself to it. Instantly his mind and body was once again at peace and the intense heat within him turned into what felt like a gentle warm embrace. This feeling of tranquillity, after many years Naruto once again recognised it as being a part of Hinata.

"INITIATING TAILED BEAST MODE!" Naruto stood to his feet and opened his eyes wide. His entire body became covered in a reddish-orange cloak that resembled that of a Leopard and he felt more powerful than ever.

This was Naruto and Hinata's greatest achievement as a team, their strongest form. Through many years of training together, the two had come to understand and trust one another to the utmost level. Using the capabilities granted by their Uzumaki and Hyuga lineage, Naruto was able to seal Hinata's special clones, an essence of her powers within himself, taking up their forms in the process and greatly enhancing his own abilities. They named this combined form between Naruto and Hinata's counterparts the Tailed Beast Mode given that Naruto took on many of Hinata's beast like properties…and because he also now had a tail thanks to her. For whatever reason he always liked the tail part of his transformation the most and as such decided to call it the "Tailed" Beast Mode and not just Beast Mode. Regardless, in this combined form, Naruto and Hinata truly were an unstoppable force.

"It was been so many years since we last joined together like this. The feeling of being within you is…truly special." Houka spoke directly to Naruto inside his mind, a voice that only he could hear.

"Indeed, it feels great to have you inside me as well." Naruto replied to her. His voice however could be heard by everyone else.

"I can feel you inside me…it feels great to have you inside me…" Tobi repeated Naruto's words with a tinge of disgust in his tone. "I don't know what kind of weird ass plays you're in to but I don't ever want to hear another man say these things out in public ever again. Ugh, disgusting. For goodness sake there's a little kid standing right there behind you. At least think about him before subjecting others to this kind of torture!"

Boruto was too busy appreciating his master's crazy new form to even pay attention to anything Tobi was saying. Not that he would understand what it was Tobi was inferring.

Naruto on the other hand was clearly flustered. "I didn't mean it that way you idiot! Get your mind out of the gutter!"

"How could you Naruto-kun!? Boruto's right there behind us! You're a terrible father!"

"Seriously? You're gonna turn against me as well? How long have we been doing this exactly? You know I didn't mean anything weird by what I said."

"Well then don't say anything that can be easily misconstrued like that."

While Naruto and Houka got into their little argument which looked more like Naruto arguing with himself, Tobi saw an opening and rushed right at him to attack. But before he could get even reasonably close, with enhanced beast-like reflexes Naruto swung one of his claw-cloaked arms and sent a powerful gust of super-heated wind towards Tobi that hit the masked man like a freight train and sent him careening backwards, flipping along the ground like a rag doll before he finally crashed into a tree with immense force, toppling it over in the process.

"Hmmm…seems like I've still got the hang of this." Naruto appreciated his own powers before turning towards the wreckage where his enemy currently lay with a menacing look. "Alright, I've had enough of your games. It's time we finally put an end to this."

Tobi slowly removed the debris covering his body and got up groggily. "Oh my head. It's still ringing from that collision. Ouch, it burns as well. Goodness me man, do you have any concept of holding back?"

"I've been holding back thus far. But I won't be holding back anymore."

"So you think you're hot stuff huh? Well how about I cool you down a bit with this? WATER RELEASE: WATER BULLET!"

Naruto saw the bullet coming towards him from across the battlefield and stood his ground in anticipation.

"Legends say that there was nothing that the first Hokage's fire release techniques could not burn through. This may not necessarily be on par with his, but I'll be borrowing a page out of his books using Hinata's fire style affinity." Naruto thought to himself whileinhaling as much air as his lungs could possibly contain. "FIRE RELEASE: ULTRA GREAT FIRE ANNIHILATION!"

Naruto took one of Hinata's most powerful fire style techniques and powered it up even further using his own wind style affinity, resulting in a jutsu that matched even Madara's original. He breathed out what could only be considered a sea of flames that engulfed everything in sight and spread forward like wildfire. Tobi's water bullet evaporated within a moment as it came in contact with the raging flames. There was no escaping such a wide area of effect.

Knowing this Tobi held one of his space-time kunai in front of him and opened up a large space-time portal in front of him, which absorbed all the flames directed his way. He then threw his other kunai right above where Naruto stood and opened the other end of the portal over him, redirecting Naruto's attack right back at him and raining down a shower of flames on top of him. Even though Naruto saw his attack being redirected he didn't bother moving and allowed the flames to engulf him completely.

Boruto was watching thus far with sheer awe but seeing his master get completely bathed in fire scared him to his very core. In his young mind no matter how strong a person was, there was no way anyone could survive such an ordeal. As the dreadful thought of not being able to see his master ever again crossed his mind, to his utter shock and awe he saw his master's silhouette within the flames. As the flames died down Boruto was greatly relieved to see his master still standing in place, not a scratch on his body. Truly he surpassed all of the young boy's imaginations and was the epitome of badass.

Tobi on the other hand was not so impressed. "WHAT!? I reflected back at you the strongest fire style attack I've ever seen and you're just standing there like nothing even happened. What the heck is this, plot armour? I call hax!"

"No, I'm just immune to all fire style techniques in this form. More specifically, it's my partner here who's immune and when I'm joined together with her I can't be hurt by any kind of fire at all." Naruto explained.

"Actually that's not quite true. I'm not immune to all fire style techniques. That man over there, Tobi, used some sort of black flames in our last fight that did serious damage to me. Not even I had expected that."

"Wow are you serious? A flame that can hurt even you? I didn't think that was possible."

"Alright you know what, it seems as though fighting you at long range is a futile effort. So I'll just get in up close and personal to defeat you in close quarters combat." Tobi got ready to engage in hand to hand combat and threw one of his kunai towards Naruto in order to teleport to him.

"Bring it on!" Rather than preparing to engage, Naruto simply folded his arms across his chest and stood still with a smirk on his face.

"Activating wisps." Upon Houka's command, ten small blue wisps materialised and started floating around Naruto's body in a circular formation.

As soon as Tobi teleported in close to Naruto, one of those wisps exploded into an eruption of flames, sending Tobi flying backwards from the blast, while Naruto remained unphased due to his current immunity to fire.

"What are those, some kind of defence mechanism that explode based on proximity?" Tobi scrambled to stand up once more and put out the flames on his clothes. At that moment Tobi felt someone right above him. He looked up only to find Naruto dropping down from overhead with two very destructive looking black orbs in his hands.

"MINI TAILED BEAST BALLS!" Naruto shoved both orbs right where Tobi stood, causing a massive explosion on that spot that left a huge crater.

Tobi barely managed to back dash away but once again was caught by force emanating from the blast, which sent him face first into the ground. At this point his body was just being thrown around like a ragdoll by Naruto's offense.

Naruto jumped up from within the crater and landed outside, shrugging off some of the after effects of the force on his own body even though his tailed beast cloak protected him from most of it.

"It still surprises me to this day how you can so nonchalantly form multiple orbs at once and do so without breaking a sweat. Even though the princess was the one who created the technique, I have to put in a lot of effort creating even one at a time. Yet you make it look so easy. You really are something else Naruto-kun." Houka couldn't help but praise her host.

"Well what can I say, perks of being an Uzumaki I suppose." Naruto replied to Houka before once again turning towards Tobi, who was now currently lying on the ground. "That aside, are you sure he is the one you fought before? So far he seems like a joke. His only redeeming quality is his ability to perform some of my father's teleportation techniques which I'm not sure how he learned. But even then he's just a second rate knock off of my father. I don't see how this man could have given Hinata any kind of trouble or have seriously intended to capture Boruto."

"I don't know what is going on but he was definitely far more powerful during our last encounter. Something about him seems off this time around. I just don't feel any malice from him like I did last time."

"That man does not seem like he is fighting for a cause. There is no killer instinct within him. I hate to sound cocky, but someone like him cannot stand up to a Kage. That is a fact. He is far too weak."

Those words from Naruto, they finally struck a chord within Menma. He was reminded of all the times he was compared to his older brother and considered to be the weaker of the two. He hated that feeling, and most importantly, he was done living in the shadow of Naruto.

Thus he stood up and completely shed his carefree nature. The aura around him turned into a very heavy and omnious one, putting Naruto on edge. Tobi realigned his mask on his face which now had several cracks on it and was nearly falling apart. His sights were set on Naruto.

"Weak…a joke…lacking killer instinct…a second rate knock off of the Yellow Flash. You will come to regret those words Hokage." Tobi replied in a dark tone, one that made him seem like a completely different person than who he previously was as he threw aside the space-time kunai he was holding in his hand. "I do not need this, for I have far surpassed the Yellow Flash long ago. Therefore, allow me to show you…true power."

In the blink of an eye Tobi was right in Naruto's face without the use of any technique or the space-time kunai. One of the wisps around Naruto exploded due to his enemy's close proximity, but Tobi had long teleported away before the explosion even took place. He once again teleported to Naruto, this time from behind and initiated another explosion from one of the wisps protecting him, teleporting away before it could affect Tobi in any way. He repeated this process, approaching Naruto haphazardly from all directions and setting off a chain of explosions before finally all the wisps protecting Naruto were completely gone and he was left without any defence mechanism.

Tobi now started running in circles around Naruto at a blisteringly fast pace, teleporting from point to point around him effortlessly, leaving afterimages of himself in an effort to confound his enemy. During this entire time Naruto tried to keep track Tobi's movements, but the masked man's movements were so fast that his eyes could not keep up with him.

"Naruto-kun, the wisps are gone and they won't be back up for a while. You have to be careful!" Houka warned from within him.

"W-What is going on? How can you teleport around so freely without the use of the space-time kunai?" Naruto asked as he desperately attempted to locate Tobi's position as he moved all around him, but to no avail.

"Did I not tell you earlier? I have far surpassed the Yellow Flash in my abilities. I can teleport between short distances freely without the need for any kunai or seals. I call this "blinking". Perhaps I should demonstrate what the fastest shinobi in existence is truly capable of." Tobi blinked right in front of Naruto and delivered a gut wrenching punch square in his abdomen, causing the Hokage to hunch over from the impact before he teleported out of reach once more. Tobi then re-appeared from the side and landed another devastating blow. He kept repeating the process, pummelling Naruto from every which direction while blinking in and out of combat. Menma's unparalleled speed along with his relentless offense made for a truly deadly combination.

Naruto remained calm even under attack and kept trying to read Tobi's movements, still to no avail.

"Time for me to break something." Tobi got into Naruto's face this time, planting his elbow right into his nose with full force, breaking and dislocating it completely.

A fountain of blood poured out of Naruto's nose as he did his best to hold in the pain.

"NARUTO-KUN NOOOOO!" Houka cried out from within him, feeling helpless as Naruto was being pulverised from all directions.

"I'm fine. Leave this to me." Naruto gave a curt reply as he grabbed a hold of his dislocated nose and snapped it back into place. He then closed his eyes and concentrated as Tobi continued his assault on him. He had figured something out.

Naruto kept waiting patiently while enduring the pain and biding his time. Through sheer concentration Naruto sharpened his senses to their absolute limits. And then he felt it – Tobi approaching him head on once again. It was at that point Naruto opened his eyes wide and grabbed Tobi's punch with one hand while with the other he created a spiralling blue sphere.

"Eat this – RASENGAN!" He shoved the sphere right into Tobi, sending him back from where he came.

Tobi endured the full brunt of the hit and still remained standing. He saw one of his space-time kunai lying next to him on the ground and took the opportunity to kick it right towards his opponent.

Naruto ducked to avoid the kunai but at that moment Tobi teleported right above him.

"I'll show you the original RASENGAN!" Tobi created a rasengan of his own and slammed it right into Naruto's back and flattening his body on to the ground. "Heheh! Got you."

However, Tobi's little moment of celebration abruptly came to a halt as he saw Naruto's body start glowing and he realised that this was all a trap. "OH CRAP!"

"CLONE JUTSU: SUPER EXPLOSION!" Naruto used one of the techniques taught to him by Itachi to blow up the clone he had placed earlier in his spot while Tobi was recovering from his Rasengan.

The sudden explosion sent Tobi flying, but he managed to recover mid-air and landed on the ground, the entire scuffle angering him even further. He didn't have much time to regroup though as a screeching sound assaulted his eardrums. He looked up only to find Naruto holding some variant of a Rasengan that he had never seen before, one that resembled the shape of a shuriken.

"I don't know how you managed to learn the Rasengan, but calling yours the original is a disgrace to my father, the one who created the technique. Right now, I, his scion will show you the successor to the Rasengan itself. You're far too dangerous for me to simply ignore any longer." Naruto warned Tobi with his Rasenshuriken at hand.

Menma didn't need to get hit with Naruto's technique to know how powerful it was and as such wasted no time in creating his own variant of the Rasengan as well – the Rasenring, a purple orb with white rings orbiting around it. The technique resembled the shape of a planet with rings. "You're not the only one who has created a successor to the Rasengan. Right here, right now, let us find out who amongst us has the true successor to the Rasengan!"

The two brothers squared off with the essence of the position of their father's true inheritor at stake. And neither would back down.

"RASENSHURIKEN!"

"RASENRING!"

They both hurled their techniques at each other and as the two orbs collided there was an explosion of cataclysmic proportions that rocked the entire battlefield.

Boruto dropped down to the ground and held his hands above his head. He was genuinely fearful for his life at this point given that he had never even dreamt of a collision of this proportion ever in his life. He was witnessing what he could only describe as two forces of nature going against one another. He thought he had come to learn what it meant to be a shinobi ever since he started training with his master, but for the first time he realised that he truly knew nothing. Thus he braced for impact and prayed for the wellbeing of both himself and his master.

Luckily his prayers were answered as when the earthquake slowly subsided and the smoke raised by the impact cleared he found his master still standing strong. Unfortunately the enemy opposite to him was standing tall as well. In between them though was a gigantic crater that almost made it took like a meteor had landed on the ground. Boruto gasped in both shock and awe.

"You're strong Hokage. I'll give you that." Tobi admitted, coming to appreciate his brother's strength through their bout.

"So are you." Naruto admitted as well. Even though Tobi's plans were nefarious, Naruto couldn't help but appreciate true strength.

"However, our bout must end here this time. For now consider the child safe. But…in due time I will be back for him and he will be mine!"

"I won't let you get away!" Naruto was about to make a move when several white chains popped up from the ground and wrapped around his legs.

Menma had used his mother's technique to distract Naruto mementarily and that was all he needed to teleport out of there at once.

"Darn it he got away!" Naruto cussed under his breath, annoyed at himself for letting Tobi escape so easily. Tobi truly was akin to a slippery eel, and a strong one at that he thought.

"It's okay Naruto-kun. For now we managed to protect Boruto successfully. That is reason enough to be happy." Houka consoled him as they were finally able to relax once more.

"That's true but that guy is seriously dangerous. I need to do something about him to protect both Hinata and Boruto. I need to act fast." He replied while undoing the seal binding himself and Houka together. "Seal Release."

With one quick hand motion Naruto opened up the seal and Houka detached from his body, taking her form as an ethereal reddish-orange Leopard as Naruto lost his cloak in the process.

"Regardless, it was truly special joining together with you once more. I know the situation was grim but it was actually kind of fun just like old times."

"Yeah, I felt the same way too." Naruto said with a smile.

"Is your nose okay? Does it hurt really bad?" She asked out of concern.

"Don't worry about it. It's fine. Not like this is the first time I've broken something. I'll get a doctor to have a look at it later."

"I wish I could stay and escort you but I'll have to take my leave. I need to stay out of Boruto's sights as much as possible so I can protect him from the shadows and he doesn't by any chance recognise who I truly am. I will see you later." Thus with a quick goodbye Houka ran away from the prairie and disappeared into the woods.

As such Naruto and Boruto were left by themselves once more, only this time the beautiful prairie they had stopped to rest at was a destroyed wasteland.

Boruto looked around and was slowly starting to see the destruction ninjas were capable. Even if it was just a little, his young mind understood a bit what his mother meant when she told him that the shinobi always left a path of destruction in their wake. Worst of all was the fact that all this fighting took place over him, because some crazy guy wanted to kidnap him for whatever reason, and that man was still at large. That thought scared Boruto.

"Boruto, are you okay?" Naruto asked as he kneeled down next to his son seeing that he was visibly shaken.

"Why did he want to take me?" The young boy asked.

"I…don't know." Naruto gave an honest reply as he truly did not know Tobi's motives.

"Is that bad guy going to come after me again?"

Naruto could see the concern in the young boy's face, so much that it pained him inside. As such he embraced Boruto in a comforting hug. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. I'll protect you from anyone and everyone that may try to harm you. It's a promise."

His master's words and his warm embrace slowly drained away all of Boruto's worries. Although he couldn't pinpoint it why, there was something about his master's words that gave Boruto reassurance. As such he chose to believe and started to once again return to his usual cheerful self.

"Alright then Boruto, I think we've had a much more eventful day than I had planned. I think we should head back home." Naruto said as he placed Boruto above his shoulders.

"Yeah I think that would be good." The young boy looked around the battlefield once more and was truly in awe of his master's powers. It made him gain an even greater level of appreciation for him since he was both a powerful yet kind man.

Thus Naruto travelled back to the village with Boruto and dropped him off a safe distance from his home, making sure that he got back safely. After that he himself headed to a doctor to get his nose checked and then returned back to his mansion for some much needed R&R in preparation for the big day tomorrow – Boruto's birthday.

Later that night…

It was midnight. Both Boruto and Hinata were fast asleep together, Boruto opting to sleep with his mother after everything that happened today. However, deep within the forest surrounding their house there was one soul who was wide awake and stalking the pair.

The masked man finished placing a seal on one of the trees in the forest which would act as a beacon. He then took off his mask to reveal a sinister smile that displayed his inner elation. For this man was the one who tried to kill Hinata when she left Konoha and was the one behind her separation with Naruto. He was the mastermind behind all the conflicts that plagued both Naruto and Hinata. And he had now managed to locate Hinata and Boruto after 8 long years.

"Naruto Uzumaki, you think you are clever. However I am always two steps ahead at all times. You thought you had finally captured me when you ensnared Danzo with your little mind games. Yet you failed to realise that Danzo and his cronies were nothing but decoys I set up for that very purpose so that they could take the fall for me eventually when the time arrived. And now you yourself have led me to your wife and child. How ironic is it not that you yourself have brought upon them their demise when they barely slipped away from my hands the last time." He started laughing almost maniacally to the point that one could even question the man's mental stability. But as quickly as he went off the fringe, his intentions became razor focused once more. "Naruto Uzumaki…this time without a shadow of a doubt, I will bring about an absolute end to you and your family. That end is nigh!"

Thus an ultimatum from the mastermind behind all the chaos.

For lack of a better term, s**t is about to hit the fan. As promised the next chapter will be on the 27th on this month in celebration of the anniversary of this story and it'll be the reveal of Naruto as Boruto's father. How do you guys think Boruto will find out the truth? I'd love to hear your ideas, and if anyone comes close to guessing how it actually happens I'll give massive props next time. It'll be pretty big.

Also now that it's been revealed that Danzo was not in fact the real culprit, who do you think the masked man is? Questions, questions. All will be answered shortly, do not worry. But it's fun to see what you guys are thinking.

Now to answer a few questions/comments of yours from last time:

tom80: "Tobi" and the "masked man" at the end of this chapter are two different entities. Tobi is Minato/Menma while the masked man's identity has not been revealed yet. Back in chapter 12, "Ideals VS Reality", Minato as Tobi helped Hinata escape from the masked man and run away from Konoha. I know the naming can be a bit confusing because they are both wearing masks, but they are definitely two different people.

Deadly-DeathStar, SpicyWifey, Reading Pixie, Erosdeath, ShinichiKudo7: Glad you guys liked Menma's interaction with Hinata. It was meant to be something silly and not to be taken seriously. Menma wasn't actually trying to steal away Hinata. He just acts like a bit of a goof a lot of times. But the whole scene was more geared towards showing in a funny way how dedicated Hinata is to Naruto considering I've shown in several occasions (with Hanabi for example) how Naruto is fully dedicated to Hinata.

That is all for now. Let me know your thoughts and join me next time on the anniversary of this story for the big reveal. Until then, take care and enjoy the holidays!