Chapter 31:

Things seemed to finally calm down after Chocho lured the guards away but Sai was still on edge. Sarada and Boruto kept an eye out just in case there was still danger, but the rest of the group had already forgotten about it and were playing to pass the time.

"Think they're gone?" Boruto asked Sarada, looking around cautiously.

"It's been a while. Maybe."

"Should we head to the spring?"

Sarada debated. "Maybe. It might be best if we did."

Naruto was giggling with Kiba on his back. "Horsey!" Kiba called happily, getting piggybacked by Naruto.

"They don't seem to sense any danger," Sarada said with a smile.

Boruto watched his father and Kiba play and couldn't help but grin. "Think they got the stone and the spring changed by now?"

"Still can't wait for him to go back to normal, can you?"

Boruto shrugged. "Well, some parts…" He shut his mouth and looked away. "I mean… Well, you know what I mean."

"You enjoyed this, didn't you? Admit it."

"Not all of it."

"But some parts."

Boruto shrugged. "He's annoying."

"But you love him anyway. Just like you."

"What's that mean?"

"That he loves you even though you're annoying."

Boruto faced the other direction.

Shikamaru watched Naruto lose his footing and fall on his face with Kiba still on his back. Kiba swatted Naruto repeatedly to get him moving but Naruto didn't budge. "Giddy-up!" Kiba dug his heels into Naruto's armpits instead of his ribs.

"Can we go home now?" Shikamaru asked sounding tired and annoyed.

Sai stayed curled where he was, looking nervous. "Are the bad guys really gone? Maybe we should stay quiet."

"You're such a baby," Kiba told him and kicked Naruto again. "Giddy-up! Move it!"

Shikamaru used his shadow to snare both Naruto and Kiba. He smirked when Kiba complained about not being able to move. Shikamaru was glad he learned this jutsu.

Shino crawled on his hands and knees after a beetle he found on the ground. When Shikamaru ended his jutsu, Kiba jumped on Shino's back instead. "Now Shino's the horsey! Giddy-up!"

The unprepared Shino bent under Kiba's weight and the startled beetle took off. Shino sighed in disappointment and refused to move no matter how much Kiba rocked on his back or kicked him.

"Sarada, Shino won't play horsey right," he complained.

"Play something else, then."

"I don't wanna."

Naruto had already found something else to do, turning a flat rock into bird and flying it around while he made buzzing noises.

Sarada and Boruto urged everyone to be quiet, thinking they heard something. Sai crawled closer to Sarada for protection.

Seeing his chance to cause mischief, Naruto sneaked up behind Sai and squeezed just above his hips with both hands, making a loud buzzing noise. Sai shrieked and flailed around in surprise.

"Guys!" Boruto and Sarada told them at once.

"Don't do that!" Sai cried. "You scared me!"

"I was just kidding," Naruto defended.

Kiba grinned mischievously. "Oh, no. Now the bad guys will come for Sai because he made a sound."

"Don't," Sai whined.

"Oh, no! They're here!" Kiba ran his hands over Sai's body, trying to tickle him, but he just ended up scratching him. "Blaugh!"

"Stop it!" Sai shoved Kiba away and tried to run. "Stop!"

"Kiba, knock it off," Sarada told him firmly.

"I was just playing."

Sai clung to Sarada's legs, trying to hide behind her and his knees at the same time. "Not funny!"

Boruto relaxed when he saw some familiar faces. "Hey, guys. Look who showed up."

Sai scrambled to Inojin and hugged him around the middle. "Kiba was being mean."

Shikadai held up the stone. "Success."

"Great," said Boruto. "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" asked Kiba. "Some place fun?"

"It's very special," said Boruto in a playful tone of voice. "But you gotta hurry."

"Why?" Kiba asked, standing up.

"Wanna race there and find out?"

Kiba jumped up and down. "Yeah! Yeah! I'm super fast! I'll beat you there!"

"Oh, yeah? Show me."

"Ok!" Kiba started running then stopped. "Um…?"

Boruto pointed. "That way."

Now knowing where he was supposed to go, Kiba took off into the forest.

"Let's catch him, Naruto."

Naruto nodded to his son and the two ran after Kiba, running side by side.

Sai peered around cautiously. "Are the bad guys gone?"

Inojin wasn't sure if he should lie and say that they were to get Sai to move quickly or say that they weren't to reassure him. In the end, Inojin held his father's hand and said, "Don't worry. We got rid of them so you're safe."

"You sure?"

Inojin nodded. He squeezed Sai's hand and he squeezed back, grinning. "Should we catch up to Naruto and the others?"

"Ok."

The two ran behind Naruto and his son, holding hands as they went. Inojin was no longer embarrassed about it.

Shikamaru didn't want to run but he didn't want to lag behind either. He and his son jogged after the group.

Shino looked at Sarada. "Are we supposed to run? Is it a race?"

"Why don't we catch up to find out?" she asked him.

Shino thought a moment. "That would mean racing. But ok."

Sarada rolled her eyes and smiled. Shino was pretty sharp even at this age.

Neck and neck, Naruto and Kiba and Boruto ran ahead of everyone, both adults determined to be first. When Boruto saw the spring ahead of them, he called out sharply, "Stop!"

Naruto and Kiba dug in their heels and left long grooves in the soil as they came to an uneasy stop. "Is the race over? Who won?"

"Hey, Sarada!" Boruto called out, ignoring the two adults. "Look at the water."

When she finally caught up, she peered down at the spring which had changed color. "It's just like the one in the photo Chocho and I saw. I think that's it. I think it's safe now."

"Yes!" Boruto jumped in the air. "Alright, guys, dive in."

The adults just stood there.

"What are you waiting for? Jump in. Let's fix you guys up."

Sai moved behind Inojin in fear. "Isn't that the water Shikamaru and Shino said was poison?"

"Huh? Poison?" Inojin asked, having not been there at the time to hear it.

"It's not…" Boruto looked around. "Oh, come on. Where is Shikamaru now?"

"H- here…!" Shikadai voice came from behind the rest of the group. He sounded winded and soon everyone saw why. He was carrying his father on his back. Shikadai took one shaky step forward and collapsed under his father's larger frame.

Shikamaru slid off his back and stepped off to the side as Sarada helped Shikadai to his feet.

"He… he gave up part way… through the race… Climbed… on my back… Had to… carry him," Shikadai said breathlessly. Seemed his father hadn't left him much choice.

Boruto did a head count and nodded. "Ok, now will you guys please get in the spring?"

Sai shook his head. "They said it was dangerous."

"Not anymore. See? The water changed color. It's safe now."

"Changing color doesn't sound very safe to me," said Shino.

"It does if it was polluted and is now clean," said Shikamaru.

"Ok," said Boruto, already getting irritated. "It was dirty and it's clean now. Get in."

"I don't want to," said Sai.

"Then just drink the stuff," Boruto urged them. "Drinking it changed you, it will change you back."

"Prove it," said Shino.

"Drink it and you'll have your proof."

"You first."

"It won't do anything to me."

"I'm not drinking it," said Shino.

"Me, neither," said Kiba.

"Then take a dip in it."

"No."

Boruto's eye twitched. "We came all this way, now get in the thing."

"You can't make us."

"Oh, yes, I can." Boruto took a few steps over to them and reached out to grab their arms and froze, a shadow connecting him to Shikamaru. "You had to teach him the jutsu, didn't you?"

Shikadai frowned at his father. "You said you wouldn't use it like this."

Shikamaru ignored him and made Boruto wiggle his hips while he taunted, "You can't make us, you can't make us."

Stop fooling around. We're so close." Boruto couldn't turn his head, so he just called out to his friends in general. "Somebody do something."

Inojin tried to reason with his father. "Sai, could you please go in the water for just a minute?"

Sai reacted to the water like he was getting a shot at the doctor's office. "I don't wanna. Please don't make me. I don't wanna."

"It's not going to hurt you. It's water."

"I don't wanna," Sai started sniffling and held Inojin tightly.

"Is it because you think it's poison or something? That was a joke. It's not true."

"I don't care. If it changed color, it's weird and might be dangerous."

"It might be magic," Inojin enticed.

"Nuh-uh!" Sai shook his head and refused to move.

Shikadai had an idea. Using his shadow, he stretched it behind himself and behind a tree. He made it jiggle a thin branch and snap a twig before recalling it. "Oh, no, guys. I heard something. It might be the bad guys again."

Shikamaru ended the jutsu and looked around for the pretend enemies. "I did hear something but I don't see anyone. Are you sure?"

"Maybe. Just to be sure, stay together and back away slowly."

The adults pressed together and took a few steps backwards towards the spring.

Shikamaru immediately saw what was going on and stopped. "You're trying to trick us, aren't you? You're trying to make us go into the spring even though we don't wanna."

"No…"

Shikamaru folded his arms. "I'm not moving."

"Then don't." Boruto held up the flat stone Naruto had been playing with. "We'll do something else. I'll toss this around and you guys can just stand there and do nothing."

Naruto saw the stone and whined, "That's mine."

"You want it? Come get it."

Naruto broke away from the other adults to take the flat stone. Boruto juggled it to keep it out of Naruto's reach. He tossed it on the ground and when Naruto went after it, picked it up and continued to play keep-away. Naruto whined and fussed for the flat stone. Boruto tossed it and Naruto went after it each time. Finally, Boruto tossed it towards the spring. Naruto dove to catch it.

He caught it in the air and looked down to see the water directly blow him. Naruto had inadvertently thrown himself over the spring to catch the stone before Boruto could take it again and now he had nowhere to go but down.

"Ah-"

SPLASH!

The adults turned around to see if Naruto was alright. That was when the young shinobi all shoved the adults into the water with all their might. The adults cried out and disappeared in a massive splash.

Boruto, Sarada, Shikadai and Inojin stood on the edge of the spring and waited.

"You think the spring had enough time to change?"

"The color is different so yeah, probably."

"Did they have to drink it or fall into it?"

"That's why we pushed them. Cover all our bases."

"Sure this will work?"

"I hope so. We got nothing else if it doesn't."

"It should. It has to. It has to."

A head bubbled to the surface and Shikamaru rose out first, gasping for air.

He just sat there for a long time, blinking.

"Shikamaru?" Boruto called cautiously. "Are you yourself again? I mean… back to normal?"

Shikamaru looked in his direction, a little bewildered. "I'm not sure," he admitted. His voice didn't sound quite as high as before.

"Maybe we should test it?" Inojin suggested.

"How?" asked Sarada.

"We can ask him something only he would know," said Boruto.

Shikamaru frowned. "How would that work? Something only I would know implies that you wouldn't know the answer, so it's a flawed test to begin with."

Sarada exhaled in relief. "He's back."

"How can you tell?"

"Can't you tell by the way he's acting?"

Shikamaru stood up and made his way out of the water. "Something only I would know… Then it wouldn't matter my age, would it? Not a very accurate test to determine someone's age or the age they think they are." He started wringing out his clothes. "Though if you wanted to gauge my answer, it is an effective test in that regard, so I can't raise my eyebrow too high."

Shino surfaced next gasping for air. He felt his face, his head, his shoulders and chest as if to make sure he was still in one piece. "I'm me, right? This didn't change me physically this time, did it?"

"You're fine."

Shino tilted his head back with a sigh. "Oh, thank God."

Sai breached beside him and crawled towards the shore coughing. He ran his hand through his hair to get it out of his face and looked up at his son's expectant face. Sai grinned at him and said, "Hey, Inojin."

Inojin fell to his knees and gave his father a hug around his shoulders, not caring how wet he was. He was so relieved to have him back to normal.

Naruto surfaced next followed by Kiba who punched him in the jaw.

Everyone stopped to look at them.

"You idiot!" Kiba snapped. "What were you thinking, spiking my drink with that sludge?"

Holding his face, Naruto answered, "I wasn't thinking. You know that. You remember what it was like in that state. I'm sorry, ok?"

Kiba made his way out of the water, grumbling the whole time. He wrung out his shirt over Sai's head and sloshed onto dry land, trying to kick his shoes dry.

"I said sorry," Naruto reminded him.

"I heard you. It's fine." Kiba shook like a dog, spraying water everywhere.

"Dad," Boruto said from the edge of the spring.

Naruto laughed in answer and spread his arms out wide for a hug. Boruto didn't enter the water and waited for his father to come to him. Naruto embraced Boruto and praised him. "You did awesome. Sorry for putting you through all that."

"You were a gigantic pain in the ass." Boruto returned the hug. "I'm glad you're ok. I'm not cleaning up any more of your messes."

Naruto patted him on the head.

Chocho rushed to the spring only to find all the adults back to normal. She bounced gleefully and hurried over. It seemed everyone was getting reacquainted judging from all the chatter and hugging.

The adults immediately got right back to their normal roles and picked up where their children left off.

They brought the man they had left tied to a tree to the spring and changed him back. Faced with so many shinobi, the man declined to fight. Remembering the conversation he had with the Hokage while they were in their altered states, the man apologized for the trouble and left peacefully. The whole ordeal seemed incredibly awkward for the man, judging from the look on the man's face as he left.

"Then you guys remember what it was like when you were… you know?"

Shikamaru chuckled and looked away. "That was weird."

"A weird experience for us all," Sai added, glancing down at his son.

"I'll bet." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head. "We certainly didn't make things easy for you guys."

"But you did great," Naruto told the young shinobi. "Thanks for all your help. Sorry for all the… yeah."

The adults started laughing.

"You haven't changed much at all, Shikamaru," Kiba teased.

"Please. I'm not that lazy anymore."

"Having two of you around forced Shikadai to get his ass in gear."

"Oh, he knows when to move his ass. What about you, Kiba?"

"What about me?"

"You and Naruto were like two peas in a pod."

"Were not!"

"Were so! Back me up here, Sai."

Sai scratched his jawline while looking elsewhere. "You two were similar enough to get along pretty great. Though you were different. And similar."

"What's with you?"

Sai's cheeks started turning pink. "I don't remember being that… way… when I was little. Was I really that meek?"

"How should we know? We hadn't met yet."

"Yeah, we didn't know you back then."

"I know I was a docile kid and I'm still kind of that way, but was I really that shy and timid?"

"I wouldn't call you meek," said Naruto. "Just… you know."

"Meek?"

"No. Uh… Shy."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Not exactly."

Sai's cheeks were still pink. "I was so much more emotional than I remember."

"Tons of kids are sensitive."

"I was so clingy. I don't remember being that way."

"Maybe that's how you would have been if you hadn't been raised in…" Naruto shut his mouth. "Sorry. Just that depending on the environment… Um…"

"It's ok. I get what you mean." Sai still avoided eye contact. "I don't know if I should be embarrassed about it or not."

"If anyone should be embarrassed, it should be Naruto. How many times did you take off your pants?"

Naruto's face turned bright red. "Shut up!"

Kiba laughed uproariously. "Wait until Hinata hears about this!"

"Can't we keep this to ourselves?"

"Wait until she hears my verse of events."

"Kiba! Don't embellish."

"How you ran naked through the streets and the kids had to chase you down."

"I didn't! That never happened!"

"In my story, it did."

Naruto put Kiba in a headlock. "Don't go spreading things!"

"Even without my side of things, the stuff you did was pretty embarr- ack! Too tight! Too tight!"

"Keep your mouth shut or your head's coming off!"

Sai cracked a smile. "Real mature, you guys."

At his comment, Shino and Shikamaru burst out laughing.

Their children didn't mind, just happy to see everyone back to normal and in a good mood. Things felt normal only better somehow.

"Mitsuki's still at the village," Shikadai reminded them. "We should probably get back. He was staying behind to explain about the stone without giving them all the details."

Naruto regained his composure and agreed. "I should probably go talk to the guy as well. Now that the stone's been removed and the spring's no longer a threat, they can have this one. Guess I actually did have some good sense in that state."

Inojin and Shikadai both wondered if this was alright. Part of them wanted to have this resolved for their parents to prove themselves and another part wanted their parents to handle it because they were more experienced. Their fathers didn't seem to be looking down on them but the boys had mixed feelings.

"You guys had a good idea to try talking it out with the leader instead of taking it by force," Shikamaru told them, seeming to understand how they were feeling.

"We only got the idea to do that because of what the Hokage said," Inojin admitted.

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"Doesn't it seem like we're too reliant on you guys?"

"Not at all," said Shikamaru. "No one can get by in this world without help."

Inojin sighed. "We should have listened to you guys in the first place. Could have saved us a bunch of time. You actually did sort of know what you were doing. We just thought that because of how you were that you didn't. Sorry about that."

"No need to apologize." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "And, looking back on it, I guess we're just as guilty. Sometimes we forget what it's like. We may be more experienced and have good ideas, but we still need to listen from time to time. Guess we got into the habit of taking over. Being like that reminded me of what it was like to be young and have people not listen to you because of your age."

"Yeah, sorry," Naruto said, mostly to his son than the rest of the group. "Reminded me how I used to feel like that when I was a kid. Sort of forgot once I became able to order people around. This felt so familiar to me, so I do understand how you feel. I didn't mean to take over. I just thought…"

"You knew better than we did," Boruto finished for him. "I get that now, I think. We treated you the same way, you know. For the same reason, so we know why you did."

"Aside from remembering what it was like to be a little kid, what was it like?" Sarada asked the adults.

"It was actually pretty great, for the most part."

"Sort of a nice break."

"Haven't felt that carefree in a while."

"I don't think I've ever done the things I did during this whole thing," Sai said. "I've never been to a play area like that. It was fun. So that's what normal children do. I can see the appeal now."

"Then I guess it was a good experience for you guys," said Chocho, following close.

"I still feel kind of bad putting you through all that. The way we acted, my behavior… We didn't make it easy for you. Sorry about that."

"But you guys did great," Shikamaru reminded them. "Very impressive. We were completely reliant on you and you did a fantastic job."

The adults were all in agreement.

"So…" Chocho began, her cheeks turning pink. "Is there a possible reward in store for us?"

Sarada adjusted her glasses, blushing from embarrassment. She had hoped Chocho wouldn't bring it up. Now that she had, she admitted she felt curious about their answer.

Naruto momentarily stopped in his tracks, eye twitching. "Ah."

"What?"

"Well…" He started walking again but his eye was still twitching. "I guess I may have a reward for you after all."

"Really?" Chocho asked, clasping her hands together happily.

"Yeah… Just remembered…" Naruto had a pained smile on his face. "Good thing we're going back to the village for Mitsuki and the leader. Kinda have to go back there anyway for something."