*I still don't own Boruto: The Next Generation, or Bakugan Battle Brawlers!*

The Bakugan Battle Brawlers In: Going Beyond The Veil! (Part 1)

Naruto waited at the gate for his chosen team to arrive so he could start searching for his son outside of the village. He had already left Shikamaru in charge of the paperwork while he was away since he knew that the lazy Nara was capable of handling the mundane matters of village affairs. And it's also his method of silently punishing Shikamaru for causing him to unintentionally neglect his family in the first place. He's pretty sure Temari would understand and would likely agree with him about doing this. She gets as irritated with his laziness as she does, and wouldn't appreciate her husband pawning off his work to the Hokage just so he could spend more time napping and watching clouds.

But that's beside the point.

"We're here, Lord Hokage!"

Naruto looked up and saw just the ninjas he wanted rushing to the gate. There was Kiba Inuzuka and his ninja dog, Akamaru. That dog may be old, but don't let his age fool you. He's still one of the best tracking hounds in the village. There's also Hanabi Hyuga, his wife's sister and the aunt of his kids. Her Byakugan would work wonders in looking for his son from long distances. Finally, there's his predecessor to the Hokage mantle, Kakashi Hatake. He may not be an Inuzuka, but his sense of smell is on par with theirs and he's one of the best combatants in the village. If Boruto tries to fight back, Kakashi will make it that much easier to tire him out and restrain him so they can bring him back. Not to mention his dog summons are some of the best tracking animals in the ninja world next to the Inuzuka tracking hounds.

"Sorry we're a little bit late, but Akamaru's not as young as he used to be. Poor boy's creaky joints make it harder for him to move like he used to." Kiba said as he bowed his head in apology.

"Don't worry about it. What matters is that you're here now." Naruto said. "Now, as I'm sure you're all aware Boruto has left the village. He left a note detailing why he left, but it's our mission to find him, bring him back, and set things right. We are to bring him home alive and unharmed. Am I understood?"

"Hai, Hokage-Sama!" his team saluted.

"Good! First things first, we need to pick up a trail to follow. Kiba, Kakashi-Sensei, you know what to do." Naruto said as he took out his son's headband*

"Hai!"

Kakashi quickly took out a small knife and made a shallow cut in his thumb, just deep enough to draw blood, before going through a series of hand signs. Focusing the necessary chakra into his hand he slammed his palm into the ground and called out the name of his technique.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A sealing array spread out from his hand and in a poof of smoke several ninja hounds, including Pakkun, arrived from the summon realm.

"Been a long time since you last summoned us, Kakashi. What's up?" Pakkun asked.

"Naruto's son has left the village and we've been tasked with bringing him home. I've summoned you to help us track him down." Kakashi explained.

Pakkun perked up immediately upon hearing this news. He and his pack had been summoned on more than one occasion when Boruto and Himawari were younger just to play with the kids and keep them company. They didn't mind in the slightest since it just meant three things. Playtime, treats, and belly rubs. And Himawari gave the best belly rubs while Boruto was the best at playing fetch with Pakkun and his pack.

The ninja dog asked Naruto if he had anything with Boruto's scent on it, to which the Hokage took out Boruto's letter and headband from his coat pocket. The ninja dog summons started sniffing it to get the scent before they started sniffing around with Akamaru to try and find which direction he went off in.

All that was left to do was wait, which was something Naruto did with great anxiety. All he could think about was how much he screwed up with Boruto. When he first became Hokage it was easy for him to manage the time he spent working so he could always be there for his family, especially since it was a time when Boruto and Himawari needed him the most. But as time went by, he started getting busier and busier until he pretty much slept in his office instead of at home beside his wife. He's missed more of his children's birthdays than most other parents, and he's caused quite the rift to form between himself and his son.

Naruto sighed and prayed to the gods that Boruto would be alright, and that they would find him soon. He didn't know what he'd do if anything bad happened to either of his kids.

"Tell me the truth, Hanabi. Am I a bad parent?" Naruto asked.

"Hm? What brought this on?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

It didn't really seem like an appropriate time to ask such a question in her opinion.

"Well, I thought I was being a good father to both of my kids, but I never even took the time to really think about just what they've been going through. Boruto especially. I have such a big shadow cast over them that they both probably felt obligated to become ninjas like I did. Add in the fact that since I was always shouting about how I wanted to be Hokage as a kid and actually did achieve my dream everyone in the village just expects… or rather expected… for my son to follow in my footsteps and become Hokage, too. And deep down I wanted him to follow in my footsteps like everyone else. Not only that, but I didn't even let him tell his side of the story when he was caught cheating during the Chunin Exams before the invasion happened. And now just about everyone in the village thinks the two events are connected somehow, and are blaming Boruto for it! They're even going so far as to call him the 'Hokage's Greatest Failure', for kami's sake!" Naruto explained.

Well, Hanabi certainly couldn't deny any of these points, especially those last ones. She's been hearing a lot of harsh whispers about her nephew recently, and heard about that last comment on her way here. It reminded her of when Naruto himself was a kid and just how closed-minded the people of this village, mostly the civilians, could be. And how quick they were to blame their troubles on one sole person.

"And on top of that, I've been way too harsh when disciplining my son! I mean, what kind of father hits their own kid just for pulling a harmless prank!? For kami's sake, I even painted the Hokage Monument when I was a few years older than Boruto back then and yet…" Naruto groaned and put his head in his hands. "I should have done things differently. Maybe things would have been better if I turned down the Hokage position."

"Now, wait just one cotton pickin' minute! Don't you go chasing down that train of thought, Mister!" snapped Hanabi. "I admit that there are things you could have done differently as a father, but I speak from experience when I say that no parent is perfect, just ask my own Dad. He did some things that he is not proud of because of those stupid Hyuga Elders constantly breathing down his neck. One of the problems with Boruto is that you keep trying to hold on to the illusion of control."

"Illusion?" asked Naruto.

"Yes. Take the peach tree in Hinata and Himawari's garden back home. They can't make it blossom when it suits them, nor can they make it bear fruit before its time." Hanabi explained. "And while you can choose when the fruit will fall and where to plant the seed, that seed will still grow into a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach."

Naruto was close to pulling his hair out by this point. All his sister-in-law's metaphors did was make him even more confused. And also hungry for peaches.

"My point is that you've made mistakes just like how everyone does. But you're trying to fix your mistakes and make things right between yourself and your son again. That's already a step in the right direction." Hanabi said. "For now, let's just focus on finding Boruto and bringing him home. And when we do, tell him and Himawari about your past. It will help them both understand things a little better."

Naruto just stood there thinking about what Hanabi said. It's true that he's never really told his children about his own childhood, but that's because he wanted to put the past behind him. Now that he thought about it, though, it seems as though that's done more harm than good in terms of affecting his relationship with his kids. Mostly his relationship with his son. Maybe it's time to finally bring the past to light and tell his kids about what he went through at their age. Lord knows it probably would have saved Naruto a lot of headaches in regards to Boruto's hatred towards the Hokage mantle, and even his misunderstood belief that he(meaning Naruto) was born and worshipped as a hero since day one.

Yeah, it seems like his friends' kids all have very active imaginations when it comes to these things. Not that he or his friends were much different, but at least they still knew how to separate fact from fiction.

A few minutes later he was broken from his musings by the sound of Kakashi's ninja hound summons howling in the distance. Looks like they found his son's trail. He quickly assembled his team and they sped off in the direction of the howling.

Time for the Hokage and his ninjas to go to work.

And thankfully it's not paperwork this time.

Meanwhile...

Under the cover of night, a lone shadow moved swiftly through the trees as silent as the darkness itself. Coming to a stop in a clearing, the figure was revealed to be a ninja in the stereotypical all black ninja gear. The kind that also has a hood and facemask to conceal their hair and face from the nose down. Add in the fact that it's a new moon night, a night where the moon does not show her face, and you've got the perfect stealth coating for a ninja. The figure looked around before coming across a hollowed out tree which would make for perfect shelter. The figure quickly stepped inside before removing their hood to reveal spiky blonde hair, and bringing down the facemask with a quiet gasp to reveal that the figure was Boruto.

Turns out once he made his escape from the village he took a moment to change out of his old clothes and put on a set of ninja attire that had long since been retired as a Shinobi uniform. No surprise there, as the materials used to make the gear are subpar compared to what ninjas use nowadays. And it's a wonder why, since the only thing it has going for it is exceptional camouflage in either the darkest shadows or in the dead of night.

He took a moment to catch his breath, having had a hard time getting any oxygen through that facemask which turned out to be made of a thicker and less breathable material than the masks that Old Man Kakashi wears.

"How in the hell did the ninjas of the Shodaime and Nidaime's times even BREATHE in these things?" he asked himself.

He reached into his bag and pulled out a ration bar. Taking a bite, Boruto grimaced at the flavor. He wouldn't be the first to have complaints about them, as most ninjas often complained that the mission standard ration bars tasted like cardboard mixed with grease. And he's had yet to find one that doesn't taste like that. The wrapper says chocolate, but the flavor's all garbage. But it's better than nothing. And with what Boruto has planned for himself he's going to need to replenish the lost calories somehow.

He didn't dare start a fire lest he risk getting himself caught by any hunter ninjas that have no doubt been deployed by his father. They'd no doubt detect the light of the flames and the smoke from the burning materials no matter how well he hid it. And there's no doubt that there's at least one Inuzuka on the prowl for him, and they're the best trackers in the Hidden Leaf along with the Hyugas and the Aburames. That's why Boruto decided to use a trick that he remembered his father telling him about when he told Boruto and Himawari stories from his pranking days.

What Boruto did was, once he was a good distance away from the village, he made several Shadow Clones and had them scatter in different directions while he, the original, covered himself in mud to eliminate his scent as he continued on his path. This way his scent would be all over the place and the group would have to split up to search every direction. And since his Chakra is split evenly among himself and the Shadow Clones, a Hyuga wouldn't be able to tell which is the real Boruto using their Byakugan.

Thinking about the Byakugan got Boruto to thinking about who the old man would be sending after him. It might be his mother who's being sent out, but that's unlikely. She hasn't been on a real mission in quite some time since she was put on the reserve list and was likely far too out of shape for a high rank retrieval mission since she only did light training these days in order to stay in shape. Her edge has likely dulled some. It could be his grandpa Hiashi, but he's old now and can't fight or travel as easily as he used to. So that leaves his aunt Hanabi as the only possible Hyuga clan member that the old man was likely to trust for such an important mission.

And with good reason. Her Byakugan is not only one of the most powerful yet, but she's also a true master of the Gentle Fist fighting style and can easily disable him in a straight up fight. That's probably what his old man is counting on.

Boruto yawned before settling against the inside of the tree. He was tired, but he couldn't afford to fall asleep yet. If he did then his clones would disburse and he'd be caught for sure. Deciding to get back on track he left his tree and replaced his face mask, in spite of how uncomfortable that thing was. He quickly covered his tracks and started jumping from tree to tree as he continued to make his way towards the ruins of what was once Whirlpool Country. The original home of the Uzumaki clan. As it were, Boruto had come across an interesting piece of information before that crazy scientist had essentially placed a Chakra Death Bomb on him. In Whirlpool Country beyond the highest mountain lies a great wall of fog deep in the woods. A wall of fog so high it reaches the sky.

The inhabitants of the time called it 'The Veil'.

Nobody knows what lay beyond the veil. No one's ever tried to venture past it, but rumor says that those who try are never seen or heard from again. But if there's one thing that Boruto has inherited from his old man, it's being every bit as stubborn and bull-headed as Naruto was. And still is from time to time. Boruto has resolved to go to Wave Country, board a ship to Uzushio, and go to the veil. He plans to cross that wall of fog and see just what's on the other side.

And no one's gonna stop him!

***To Be Continued…***

I'm sorry that I haven't included the battle between Gamakichi and my OC Darkus Bakugan like I had originally planned, but I'm having a very hard time coming up with dialogue for these new chapters. As a result, this chapter is going to be a two-parter so that I can get the dialogue all figured out. Plus I've got ideas to draw artwork for several new OC Bakugan that will go to other important characters in this story. I've already drawn one that I plan to use.

Her name is Aquos Campus. And before you say anything, no she's not named after the part of the brain. She's named after the Hippocampus from Greek Mythology. Half horse, half fish, all dangerous. You can look her up on my Deviantart account, which is under the same name as my fanfiction account here. SaurusRock625 on DeviantArt. That's the profile you want if you want to see all of my Bakugan OCs that I have plans for in this story.

But anyways, thank you all so much for reading. Don't forget to leave reviews for me on your way out, and have a fantastic day! See you next update!