"Sorry Boruto, it took me a while to catch up. Gathering information seemed more important than ambushing you, but…" Kakashi's face darkened.

"Why are you here?!"

"You're looking for buried treasure without any leads. Or at least, that's the excuse you gave me. I came here a bit earlier, but I was interested to see how the fight would turn out," replied Kakashi, crouching over Haku's body. "After all, your parents struggled to defeat this guy back in the day… it's a pity to see someone else impersonating his form."

Kakashi threw a kunai down towards Haku, but he rolled out of the way.

"Kakashi the copy ninja… Although, I suppose no one calls you that anymore, do they, sixth hokage?"

"And? Who might you be? Perhaps the mysterious man who sent these two on a treasure hunt?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about… But before we start our inevitable battle, at least tell me, where did my disguise go wrong? I wasn't planning on luring you out until I had done away with these two."

Kakashi sighed. "Haku wouldn't be concerned about whether or not people were calling him a him or a her. And he wouldn't have given up so easily. It's obvious that you practiced, but you still have a long way to go before you're anywhere close to Haku's level…" He reached his hand into his tool bag and pulled out a kunai. "Why did you want these two to finish you off? Did you know they wouldn't?"

"Don't be ridiculous… It was all an elaborate setup. I had a feeling you were hiding somewhere in the shadows… After they got close enough to me to kill me, I could have whisked them off to separate dimensions."

"Dimensions… You can't be—"

"Then I could have dealt with you afterwards," interrupted fake Haku. "Oh well. I suppose the order doesn't matter. Either way, I can cause their little mission to fail."

"And who's mission would that be?"

"Again, talk no jutsu isn't my forte. Goodbye, Kakashi. It was pleasant chatting with you."

"Sixth," said Sarada, her arm still slung over Boruto's shoulder. "If my guess is right… This person is extremely dangerous. He can do just about anything. Be careful."

"I'm aware," said Kakashi, staring at the opponent in front of him. "If he can use Haku's jutsu, he can't be an ordinary ninja. There's just one thing I don't understand…"

"What's that?"

"Who's Hebi?"

Boruto slumped his shoulders. "You're really going to ask that at a time like this?! This guy is more serious than the Otsutsuki, old man!"

"Well, I thought it was an important question. I suppose not. Listen you two," said Kakashi, dropping into a fighting stance, "there's only one way to do away with someone who can do anything."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You have to outsmart him."

A time-space portal appeared next to Kakashi as he was pushed sideways, but Kakashi grabbed the Haku impersonator's wrist and pulled. Just as the he swung a kunai at Kakashi in attempt to release himself, Kakashi turned into a puff of smoke. Out from the ground, a gloved fist sprouted. The sudden lack of stability and obstacle that had suddenly appeared caused the man to stumble into his own space time portal.

Boruto stared at the scene in front of him in disbelief. "How did you—"

"He didn't seem all that bright. Especially for someone who could do anything," said the real Kakashi, stepping out from behind a tree. "Ahh well. Now, you said your real goal was to find Mitsuki was it? He's probably at Orochimaru's place already…"

"But won't that guy come back?"

"Hmm… I wonder. Not all people have as much experience with time-space jutsu as the Otsutsuki and Sasuke… He seemed like someone who had just inherited tons of power but wasn't sure what to do with it."

"…How did you know that?"

"I consider myself to be a good judge of character," replied Kakashi.

Suddenly, a space time portal opened next to him. Out walked a dark hooded figure, needles dripping with a purple substance in hand.

"You… Before I left, I promised Hebi I wouldn't kill any of you in return for conceding to me… She had faith that you'd find a way to complete the mission with or without her… But I never promised anything else!"

"What did you do to Hebi?!" Boruto readied a Kunai and deflected the seemingly poisoned needles, angrily lashing out at the hooded figure.

"Boruto!" Sarada threw a few shuriken to deflect more needles. "Don't rush in like that! You're going to get killed!"

"Didn't I already say," the hooded figure continued, "I won't kill you. I'm a man of my word. However, making you suffer until the allotted time to complete the mission runs out is a different story!"

Kakashi stepped in, easily deflecting the needles. "For someone with a big mouth, do you even have actual combat experience? It seems as though your real body can't even account for half of what it was when you transformed into Haku."

"Heh. So what if I don't have combat experience. I can do anything! Any jutsu I want to use is at my disposal," said the hooded figure, throwing more needles at Kakashi. "I could use the mangekyo sharingan if I wanted!"

Kakashi sighed. "That would be troublesome. But seeing as though your eyes are currently hidden by a hood, it isn't likely that I'll be looking into them anytime soon."

The hooded figure was noticeably perturbed. "Fine! Transformation jutsu!" With that, the hooded figure turned into Itachi Uchiha, mangekyo sharingan at the ready.

Kakashi simply stared at his feet. "Boruto, Sarada. Whatever you do, don't meet this man's eyes. I'll keep him busy. Run back to the village and alert Naruto."

"Do you really think I'll let them do that," asked the Itachi look-alike. "Even if I can't meet their eyes, I can cast a genjutsu with a single finger. My ability to throw shuriken is second to none."

"Says the man who had to practice throwing needles. I'm sure you're very good," Kakashi teased.

Even more upset than before, the man whipped out a device. The second Boruto laid eyes on it, he had an idea. "That's the device that they use to do anything! If you take that away, he'll probably be powerless."

"Yeah," said Sarada, hands on her hips, "but taking it away isn't easy. Remember last time when your arms—"

He covered Sarada's mouth. "This guy might not have set anything like that up," he hissed. "Hebi might have overestimated… her own people."

"Her," said Sarada, glaring at the laptop. "Who would have thought."

"Well it was kinda hard to tell," said Boruto. "But I don't think that was her actual form. More importantly, I have an idea."

"Boruto," said Kakashi, throwing a kunai at the device. The laptop moved out of the way before the kunai could hit it, almost as if it was moving of its own accord.

Boruto smirked. "Old man Kakashi! Give me an opening!"

Kakashi sighed. "It's lord sixth to you, Boruto."

"Whatever, hurry it up!" He lowered his voice and turned. "Sarada, you know how to throw shadow shuriken right?"

Sarada nodded. "I'm not the best at it, but I could probably pull it off."

"Alright good. Remember that move your dad made me learn?"

"It's meaningless," said the man who was still stealing Itachi's appearance. "I know all about your disappearing Rasengan. No matter what you try, you'll still be—"

"Shiden!"

In that moment, purple lighting flashed towards the device. It was knocked out of the author's hands, but still remained unscathed on the ground. One of Sarada's shuriken flew at it. The man laughed and waited for the second, but the first hit the laptop while the second hit the man in the side of the neck. Just as he turned towards Sarada and Boruto, an invisible swirling force made an impact directly in his stomach.

Losing Itachi's form to be replaced with a weak looking twigly figure, hood gone, the man, or boy rather, desperately reached for his laptop. Kakashi kicked it away, using the momentum to send it hurdling.

Boruto just so happened to remember that spilling water on said devices made them short circuit, so he weaved a few signs with his hands. "Water style, surging sea!" Because the water wasn't a physical object but an object in nature, the laptop did not object to being surrounded by it. The next thing the boy knew, he was defenseless, and his device was broken.

But as Boruto looked at the boy, he realized there was something familiar about him. He stared a little harder, trying to figure out where on earth he knew him from. Finally, it hit him like a bag of bricks, and apparently, Sarada at the same time.

"Suzuno?!"

"…You guys know who this is?"

"Do we," replied Boruto, "this is the creep that tried to kill us last time! I thought Hebi got rid of you!"

"I-I faked my own death," replied Suzuno, slowly crawling backwards.

"What did you do with Hebi and Mitsuki?"

"I…" he said, slowly backing away from the two kids and the sixth hokage. "I just came here because the boss told me to… I don't even watch Boruto…"

"The boss? There's more of these things?" Boruto sighed. "And what the heck do you mean, you don't watch me? How complicated is this going to get?"

Kakashi towered over the kid menacingly, a kunai in his hand. "Well then, kid. I'll have you tell us everything…"

Suzuno made a high-pitched sound in his throat as he covered his face with his hand. "Other than me… the one who captured Mitsuki and took him away was the boss… The person you call Hebi has nothing to do with us. She's just in our way…"

"In the way of what," asked Kakashi, crouching down with a kunai to the boy's neck. "And if you answer wrong, I have no problems putting an end to your ability to speak."

"Hieee!" Suzuno tried to move backwards, but the kunai only followed his throat. "I-I don't know what the mission was! I only know that the boss wants to stop it! I'm good at carrying out orders, but I don't have any plans left… Turning into Itachi was useless… If you want the mission details, ask him!" He raised a shaky finger and pointed towards Boruto. "He should know what it is!"

Boruto tightened his grip on Sarada's wrist before he took her arm off of his shoulder and gently set her on the ground. Walking up behind Kakashi, he peered over at the weak looking twig menacingly. "And? Why do they want to stop it?"

"I-It must be something that goes against the natural flow of… I can't explain. Everything will get reset if I explain. I'm sorry, please don't kill me!"

"What happened to Hebi?"

"I told you, she let us seal her," replied Suzuno, his eyes still on the kunai that was getting dangerously close to his Adam's apple. "As long as we didn't kill you or imprison you, she had faith that you would complete the mission on your own…"

"So your boss just wants to stop it?"

"Yes."

"And if I do it, that would put everything back to normal?"

"Well… I'm going to get killed if I tell you!"

Boruto thought back to everything that Hebi had said. Upon completion of the mission, Hebi would disappear. If she disappeared, she couldn't protect them anymore. Right now, by enduring imprisonment, Hebi was protecting them. The completion of the mission would ruin the boss' plans, whatever that meant. But what came after that was unknown. Hebi wouldn't be there to protect them. The boss could do whatever they wanted to do.

"Oi, old man," said Boruto, looking down at Kakashi. "What do you think we should do?"

Kakashi pulled some rope out of the tool pouch on his back and bound the kid's wrists. "I don't really know enough about the situation to make a good call… And it seems like you two have your reasons for not telling me. But for now, this guy needs to be imprisoned. He might be useful in negotiations, if worst comes to worst. More importantly, there's an injured girl behind you, Boruto."

Boruto turned around to find that Sarada had busied herself dressing her own wounds. "Oi! What are you doing?"

"What does it look like," she asked, wrapping up her leg. "I'm making sure I don't bleed out. That being said, I'm not sure I'll be able to wrap the one on the back of my shoulder tight enough on my own, especially since it hurts to move my arm… Kakashi-sensei, could you lend me a hand?"

Kakashi smiled under his mask, his eyes closing. "I'm going to scout ahead to confirm Mitsuki's whereabouts. Boruto, don't let Sarada die. Her parents can be pretty scary when they get angry." With that, Kakashi summoned several dogs. "Pakkun, you come with me to track down Mitsuki's scent. The rest of you, take this guy back to the Hokage."

The dogs howled, scooped up Suzuno, and carried him off. A little pug disappeared into the trees with Kakashi hot on his tail.

"Old man!" Boruto shook his fist at Kakashi, but it didn't change anything.

With a sigh, he sat down next to Sarada. "So? You just need me to wrap this around your shoulder, right?"

Sarada looked away, her face slightly red. "Yeah…"

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"…Go behind me, and don't lean forward."

"Hm?" He complied with her orders. "Why?"

"Because…" She put her hand on the zipper to her vest. Then she hesitated. "Actually, never mind, I'll just do it myself. Go over there and don't look."

"Huh? I thought you couldn't reach?"

"I can reach! And make sure you don't look!"

"Okay, okay. Sheesh." Boruto turned around and slumped his shoulders. Women. Who knows.

He sat, his eyes staring off into the trees. The sound of fabric rustling accompanied by painful grunts caught his attention. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine! If I could just, get this stupid, arm to go a little, further—"

Boruto got up. Whatever it was, it wasn't worth her being in this much pain if he could just do it for her. "Sarada, I'm coming ov—"

"Don't look!"

"But you're making weird noises and I—"

"I said no!"

"You're going to hurt yourself!" But when Boruto went around to the other side of the tree, he was met with Sarada wearing nothing but a sports bra, the straps hanging off her shoulders.

"Idiot!" She yelled and threw her vest at him.

His face reddened immediately. "You could have told me you were getting undressed!"

"I told you not to look!"

Boruto sighed and kept his eyes on the ground, blush still dusting his cheeks as he took a seat behind her and held out his hand.

"W…What?"

"The gauze. Give it to me."

"What are you—"

"I've already looked, so I might as well just do it."

Sarada clenched her fist, but eventually conceded and handed over the gauze. "Four times around and twice over my shoulder… You can tuck it into the back after you cut it off."

"Got it."

He tried to avoid his hands touching her skin, but every so often, they would brush against it. He would apologize and jerk his hand away, but she didn't say anything. Despite wanting to let his eyes wander her back, he had more decency as a human being than he realized and concentrated on the white material in his hands with all of his will power.

As he tucked the end piece into the middle of her back, his hand had no choice but to touch her skin. And he couldn't help thinking about how soft and smooth it was.

I have a back too. Doesn't my skin feel like this? Why does this seem so… different? Dang it. Resisting the urge to leave his hand there longer than it needed to be, he put his hands in his lap. "I'm done."

"…Thanks," she said, slipping both bra straps back on with her good hand.

"Hey, Sarada," said Boruto, no longer refusing his mind's temptation to let his eyes wander across her skin.

"What?" Her voice seemed softer than usual. She wasn't mad. It seemed like she was thankful, despite being embarrassed.

"About the mission… If I complete it, what do you think would happen to Mitsuki?"

"Mmm…" Sarada mused, picking up her vest and sliding her arms through the holes. "I think the troublemakers want to stop it at all costs… Maybe if you do it, they'll leave us alone. They only have Mitsuki right now to stop you, don't they?"

"In other words, it would be better to do it while I still can? While they don't know whether I have or haven't?" He began to zone off, somewhat drunk in the thought.

Sarada zipped up her vest. "I think that's one way of putting it… There's no guarantee they'll leave us alone afterwards. But if the whole point of them coming here was to stop it, there's nothing they can do after it's done… right?"

Boruto looked up. Kakashi would be coming back eventually. There was no one else around. And one of Sarada's arms was too injured to punch him. If he was going to do it, now would be good timing. And this time, he didn't feel like doing it to complete the mission. He wanted to do it.

Once he was back on his feet, he felt dizzy. Sarada turned around to face him. She tilted her head to the side. "Boruto?"

"Sarada," he said, his voice hushed, but not quiet enough to be a whisper.

She stepped closer to him. "Are you ok?"

"I need you to promise me something," he said, taking a step even closer so that his stomach was inches away from hers.

"W…What is it?"

She didn't look away.

"Promise me," he said, his hand gently combing her bangs back as they fell onto his wrist, "that you won't punch me."

"H… Huh? Boruto, what are you—"

Boruto used his free hand to gently remove her glasses from her face. Just as he tilted his head, the only remaining vision being blurred by his eyelashes, a small pug howled from atop a tree.

"We found Mitsuki!"

Boruto tensed, his mind kicking back into reality. He backed up and looked at Sarada, who looked back at him, her face befuddled and confused. Knowing that the mood he had created was now completely destroyed, he set her glasses back on her face and removed his hand, a smile of disappointment on his lips. "Where is he?"

The pug hopped out of the tree and walked to his feet. "Sorry for interrupting, but this is more important."

Sarada's face exploded.

"He's in critical condition. Kakashi told me to take you two to him. It seems that dangerous guy is only keeping him alive and hasn't healed any of his injuries."

"Mitsuki…" Boruto's eyebrows furrowed. "Even if we beat the troublemaker, we have to find Hebi to heal Mitsuki…"

"Boruto," said Sarada, adjusting her glasses as her skin tone turned back to its normal pale color. "You have some sort of special mental link with Hebi, don't you?"

Boruto sighed. "Yeah, but it hasn't been working…"

"I guess we have no choice but to ask the boss where she is… I'll have you explain yourself later. For right now, finding Mitsuki comes first. You said your name was Pakkun?"

"The one and only," replied Pakkun, looking up at Sarada without a hint of emotion. "Now come on, Kakashi needs backup."

"Lead the way," Boruto replied.