Chapter 54: Hello Dad


27 Minutes Until Konoha Burns


"Summoning Jutsu! Aoda!"

Boruto and company braced themselves as Sasuke's summon quickly rose up, carrying them on his head, stopping to let them off at the lab's wall hole.

"Okay. We're here." Sarada said as she helped Boruto into the lab, "What's the plan?"

"For one, none of have a technique that can get us back to Konoha in time right?"

"Nope."

"None."

"Not in thirty minutes."

"Even with Aoda, it'll take about 50 minutes tops."

"This lab was not just a place for researching kotes, but a home base to relay between these researchers and the ones in Konoha. There has to be a way to at least contact Konoha. Find whatever you can. All we need is a way to send a message to Konoha."

"Alright." Konohamaru nodded, "Spread out and search the lab. We'll check in vocally every two minutes. Remember, time is short."

"Roger!" Sarada and Mitsuki saluted before running off.

"You think you can find something?" Katasuke smirked, "Please. There is nothing left in this lab to help anybody. Did you think we would just stay here after Konoha burns down? Without Konoha, this land just becomes a delicious target for other countries. Our plan was to leave once the fires died down. This lab has already been evacuated. The only things left is my stuff."

Sasuke kicked Katasuke in the jaw.

"Shut up."


23 Minutes Until Konoha Burns


In two minutes everyone gathered together again.

"I couldn't find anything." Sarada winced, "There's some test tubes and other junk but nothing that can help."

"I checked the furthest rooms." Konohamaru added, "There was nothing left, not even food rations. They really were planning to evacuate."

"I managed to find a phone." Mitsuki said as he held up phone and it's reciever.

"A phone!" Sarada cried, "We can make calls with those!"

"Right!" Konohamaru grinned, "We can call Konoha with this!"

"Do you know any phone numbers though?" Boruto asked.

"..."

"…I mean, phones are still rather limited." Konohamaru shrugged, "Not a whole lot of people use them."

"Even if we can call, if we call somebody like Ichiraku Ramen with this information, nobody will believe it."

"So...what do you suggest?" Sarada asked.

"I found this." Boruto said, holding up a small case.

"What's that?" Sarada asked, taking a closer look at the case, "Scrolls?"

"Probably meant for kotes." Boruto nodded, "It was in a bag with a few clothes and food. Probably Katasuke's luggage."

"You went through my stuff?!" Katasuke cried.

"Hey." Boruto said, turning to him, "What jutsus are inscribed in these scrolls?"

"Pfft. You expect me to help you?" Katasuke sneered, "I'm not telling you anything."

Sasuke drew his sword and pressed it against Katasuke's throat.

"Not even if you kill me." Katasuke glared at Sasuke unflinchingly, "Even I have my pride."

Sasuke's hand twitched as he pressed the sword ever closer to Katasuke's throat but Boruto stopped him.

"Yeah, you always were prideful." Boruto said as he tossed around the case, "But since these jutsus weren't part of your kote's arsenal, I guess these are just pointless jutsus."

"..."

"Probably some low level techniques that even a genin can preform. That's all you can ever create anyway."

"How dare you!" Katasuke roared, "I recreated the power of the Six Paths!"

"Yeah but you're just a one-pony."

"A one-trick pony?! I'll have you know years of research went into those techniques! You think your kote can just replicate the Reaper Death Seal and Worldly Resurrection?!"

"Reaper Death Seal?" Sasuke frowned.

"Hmph." Katasuke looked down.

"So one of these is the Reaper Death Seal?" Boruto mused as he stared at the scrolls.

"Thinking of a plan?" Mitsuki asked.

"...Mitsuki, your dad still has the shinigami mask right?"

"You know about that?" Mitsuki blinked.

"Alright then." Boruto grinned, "This'll work."

"What will?" Sarada tilted her head in confusion.

"This." Boruto said as he opened the case, "We'll use the Reaper Death Seal."

"How?" Katasuke frowned.

"I'll use the Reaper Death Seal." Boruto said.

"You'll what?!" Sarada cried.

"I'll seal myself with Katasuke." Boruto said, glaring at Katasuke form the corner of his eye, "Mitsuki will then have his father use the mask to release me from the death seal and revive me using Worldly Resurrection. That way, I can be at Konoha in mere minutes."

"No."

"Nuh-uh."

"No way."

"That's stupid."

"What? Why?" Boruto frowned.

"I'm not letting you essentially die." Sarada crossed her arms sternly.

"How is Mitsuki supposed to contact his father anyway?" Konohamaru asked.

"...Call him?"

"We don't have a phone." Mitsuki sighed, "Come on now Boruto, you know what you have to do."

Boruto looked down as Mitsuki pushed the phone into his arms.

"The Hokage has a phone number specifically for emergencies." Mitsuki said, "You were taught it when you were young right?"

"..."

"...Boruto, it's time to talk to your father."


20 Minutes Until Konoha Burns


Naruto's eyes widened as his phone suddenly began to ring.

"Hello?" Naruto said as he picked it up."

"Hey...dad."

Naruto suddenly stood up, startling Shikamaru.

"Something wr-"

"Boruto?!"

"Boruto?"

Naruto stood there, unsure of what to say. Immediately, Naruto wanted to ask how his son was doing but the line caught in his throat. No matter how much he wanted to say something, nothing would come on.

"Listen, Hokage." Boruto suddenly said, "Konoha is in danger."

"Danger?" Naruto frowned.

"There's bomb. Well, really it's a giant kote. It's set to unleash Amaterasu from within Konoha itself and burn the village into the ground."

"Amaterasu?!" Naruto cried, "So...that's the reason behind Sasuke's disappearance?"

"Yeah. It was all calculated by Katasuke."

Behind the line, Naruto heard somebody get hit and a cry of pain that sounded exactly like Katasuke.

"...I see. We'll send people out to search for the bomb."

"There's no time." Boruto said, "It's set to explode in less than 20 minutes."

"Less than 20 minutes?" Naruto bit his lip but glanced towards Shikamaru who nodded and left the room to begin preparations for evacuation.

"We'll evacuate the village but I don't know how many we can get to safety in time." Naruto took a deep breath, "Do you know where the bomb is?"

"No. But I have a way to save the village."


"How far away are we?" Mitsuki asked.

"Still 40 minutes away from Konoha." Sasuke scowled, "Aoda's going as fast as he can."

"How's it going, Boruto?" Sarada asked nervously.

"Don't ask me." Boruto said as he sat there nervously, "It's all up to dad now."


15 Minutes Until Konoha Burns


"Hinata!"

"Naruto?!" Hinata cried as her husband suddenly burst into their home, "What's going on?"

"Get Himawari. Get out of the village."

"What's going on?" Hinata asked.

"I'll explain later." Naruto said as he pushed past his wife and up the stairs, "There isn't enough time, hurry!"

Naruto burst open the door to Boruto's room. He hadn't seen his room in years but everything was all neat and tidy. Which felt so wrong. Boruto was never the type to clean his room. Just like Naruto was. Was this tidiness a result of his...departure? Or was he...prepared to never return? For a moment longer, Naruto wanted to stand there and left the nostalgia wash over him but he pushed it all aside as he rushed into the room.

"Look under my bed for a scroll."

"This is it?" Naruto said as he held the scroll in his hands.

"Open it and preform the summon."

Naruto was already a step ahead as he quickly unfurled the scroll and looked at the seal inscribed within the scroll. Placing his hand on it, he used his chakra to summon what was on the other side. And to his shock, he found...a doll? No it was made of metal though it had the appearance of skin in places. It had it's own face, it's own hair. It was steps away from being completed.

"Place your hand on its chest and use all five different elemental transformations."

Naruto placed his hand over the robot's chest and sent a bit of chakra of five different types into the machine. The chest beeped and popped open, revealing a deep and wide crevice. The crevice had ridges that ran the length of the hole, spiraling together into the center.

"What is this?" Naruto blinked, "What have you been working on, Boruto? ...But this..."

Naruto smiled as he held up his hand and formed a rasengan, "Even I know what to do."


10 Minutes Until Konoha Burns


Mina pulled her ramen cart along as people ran past her, moving away from the town square and towards the village exit.

"What's going on?" She frowned.

"You there!"

Mina jumped as Shikadai landed in front of her, "Evacuate the village! There's been the a bomb threat."

"A bomb threat?" Mina blinked, "But why the entire village?"

"We don't know where the bomb is."

"But surely we don't need to evacuate to outside the village?"

"There's no time for this!"

"O-Oh! I'm sorry!" Mina cried as she quickly turned around.

"Leave the ramen cart and run!"

"B-But this cart is-"

"Leave it to me, Shikadai!"

Mina yelped as he cart was suddenly picked up from around her. Chocho grinned as she held the cart up with one giant hand and gave the two of them a thumbs up.

"I'll carry this for you miss so just run!"

"T-Thank you!"

"Thanks, Chocho!" Shikadai called as the two ran off.

"Shikadai!"

"Dad!"

"How's the evacuation?" Shikamaru asked as he landed nearby.

"The square's mostly empty so we have this area secured." Shikadai nodded, "But the area around the square still has plenty of people struggling to leave their homes in time."

"I've been trying to deal with the stubborn ones but it's almost pointless." Shikamaru bit his lip, "At least we have enough able bodies to help evacuate the elderly."

"What's next?" Shikadai asked, "We have so much left to do!"

"We evacuate."

"What?"

"There's less than ten minutes until the bomb goes off." Shikamaru said, "If we can't save anybody else we can at least save ourselves."

"We can't do that!" Shikadai cried, "There's still many innocent people at risk! Not to mention the incarcerated! We should be trying to move them until the last minute and save as many lives as possible!"

"...You're right." Shikamaru grinned as he patted his son on the head, "You can get quite serious when you want to."

"What's that mean?" Shikadai frowned, "No, nevermind that, what's our next move?"

"I'll have some volunteers move the prisoners to a secure location." Shikamaru said, "We can't force anybody to risk their lives for us so our taskforce will be smaller. I'll work on moving the people around the square."

"What about me?" Shikadai asked.

"You evacuate."

"What?!"

"Go keep your mom safe." Shikamaru said as he turned around.

"But I can't leave you alone!"

"Can you leave your mom alone then?"

"..."

"..."

"...I'll...I'll help evacuate the people around the village edges." Shikadai said, "I better see you there eventually, dad!"

"...What a kid." Shikamaru smiled.


0 Minutes Until Konoha Burns


Shikamaru and Shikadai fell to the ground as an explosion destroyed the enter of the town square and out from under the ground spewed black fire.

"Wh-What's that?!" Shikadai cried.

"Amaterasu!" Shikamaru gritted his teeth, "We've run out of time already?!"

"T-That fire's spreading!" Shikadai said as the fire began to climb out of the hole.

"Get away from there!" Shikamaru cried as he grabbed his son and jumped onto the wall of a building, running up the side until they were safely on the roof. And from the roof, Shikamaru felt his stomach turn. For besides the fire in front of them, he could see four more towers of flames, each at the corners of the village.

"There were more than one bomb?" Shikamaru growled, "No, if there were five bombs surely we would have found one. The bomb was underground so...so long as they made a path, Amaterasu could be directed from the epicenter underground to the other locations."

"That means..." Shikadai shuddered, "The people closest to the center are in the most danger! We need to move!"

"Right!" Shikamaru cried, "But make sure you're safe! The Hokage...Naruto will definitely be able to do something about all this!"


Naruto gasped as he knelt over Boruto's machine. He had tried over and over again but the machine didn't seem to to be working. Outside he could already hear his village starting to burn. Did Boruto make a mistake in building it? Was it not even functional? No. His son told him to activate this. Even if he left, all he could do was save more people but not the village. If Boruto says he can save the village...then he will believe in him.

"So...wake up already!" Naruto roared as he formed a rasenshuriken.