BORUTO/ALTER
BORUTO leapt building to building-
Sirens screamed within his ears, while smoke rose from the streets below. Himawari's chakra-
Boruto stopped mid run, skidding backwards upon roofing while bracing arms into a cross. Chakra.. vile, repulsive, and violent, bellowed at him from nearly all directions. Despite all of this.. Boruto could tell that the chakra was Himawari's.
The density of it.. it's almost like it's physical!
Boruto knew that dad was somewhere- but he couldn't sense anything other than Himawari's screaming chakra.
"Boruto!"
Mom?!
Boruto turned to see his mother zip down beside him in a blip of trained speed. Her Byakugan were active, veins strained beside eyes that bore almost hidden tears.
Despite this- her face was resolute. Amidst the chaos of everything, Hinata was the one calming figure amidst the storm.
"I can't sense your father or anyone else. My Byakugan seems to only work from close distances- what happened, Boruto?!" Hinata asked, looking down at him.
"I'm not sure, Mitsuki said she woke up but that something was wrong. I-.." Boruto shut his eyes.
"I can feel her, mom. This chakra.. She's in pain. We have to help her!" Boruto began to sprint into a run once more.
"Boruto, wai-" Hinata called after her son-
Only to see him fall to his knees, then flat on his stomach.
Why is this happening now?! Hinata bit down the panic that screamed within burning lungs. The sounds of destruction rung around her-
She moved forward, glaring at the cruelness of fate that afflicted both of her children.
I won't let them suffer like this! Hinata knelt beside Boruto, turning him over-
Boruto's right eye was entirely black, while a glowing white pupil, reminiscent of the Byakugan, seemed to flex to look at her.
For a moment, the world, despite the hell abundant within it, was silent.
PAIN.
Boruto opened his eyes-
He felt himself jump into the air, the ground exploding below. The sky was filled with stars- and a red moon hung amongst them. Boruto landed, sliding backwards across craggy ground that was sprinkled with tufts of dying grass and scattered black flames.
Is this.. a dream?
Boruto felt himself moving, but he wasn't controlling his actions. Further.. while he still remembered his family, remembered Konoha.. speaking with Hinata even..
It all seemed so far away now. And as Boruto moved, it was almost like he was beginning to slowly forget them.
A laugh rose from within the smoke of whatever attack was meant for Boruto. A slim silhouette stood before him, stepping forward with a loud, almost comical clack.
The smoke parted.
The figure bore eyes like Hinata's, and long white hair that was tied behind a slim fitting black tunic. The figure's face-
It's the same one from.. before? The one inside the burning house!
Yes. The figure didn't seem to have the scars over his eyes as he did then, but this was no doubt the same man.
Everyone is dead..
"Disgusting.." the man began.
"Such a corruption of our power. My power!" He sneered.
Boruto felt his mouth open- and a voice came from it that wasn't his.
"You're starting to bore me, Amakushiki. You're not as powerful without your Master toiling ahead of you."
The voice that spoke for Boruto chuckled before finishing.
This should be over quickly, Otsutsuki."
another being spoke beside Boruto. This one was warmer, kinder.
A friend..?
"Don't let your guard down, Ninurta."
That name again! Boruto thought.
"He's buying time. We didn't fully seal Vayushiki. If we lose here, then everyone will be in danger. Make no mistake, Ninurta- they mean to kill us all." The voice cautioned.
A howling, cracking sound suddenly creased into the air. Boruto felt the sensation of falling over.
"Ninurta!" The voice called, Amakushiki's laughter echoing in cruel retort.
Boruto felt hands around his shoulders.
Then he saw blackness.
Then.. that same onyx sea, stars spinning above.
The voice that warned him of Amakushiki was heard over quivering and bloodlike waves now.
"Wait- where are you? Ninurta?!" The voice screamed.
Ninurta!
Ninurta! No!
"Boruto!" Hinata's frantic calls jolted Boruto upright.
Hinata gave Boruto a somewhat relieved expression.
"Boruto.." Hinata looked away from him.
"There's no time right now. Can you stand, Boruto?" Hinata asked.
Boruto nodded, dazed as the memories of his own life came flooding back to him.
"I wish I could sense your Father.. I can't even see him amongst this chakra-!" Hinata spoke as her eyes darted right to left, momentarily distracted by a volley of debris hurtling from above them.
A spinning shield of expanding blue chakra flushed from Hinata. It sloughed off pieces of stone and building, adding to the mounting bedlam of Konoha's destruction.
"We have to keep going mom. This feeling.. it's not just pain she's in.. it's more than that. Something is trying to take her!" Boruto rasped.
Hinata shut her eyes, opening them as tears fell freely down both cheeks. However, she did not scream or yell out in anguish.
"You lead the way, Boruto. You're twins. You'll bring us all back together. You'll be the one who keeps Himawari safe." Hinata nodded towards Boruto.
"I believe in you, Boruto. More than anything." Hinata smiled-
It was a sad one, a smile of a woman who had dealt with a lifetime of loss. But it was also one that inspired Boruto-
Boruto's black hair flashed across blue-silver eyes. He gave Hinata a stern grin.
Stepping forward, Boruto narrowed his eyes across the burning city.
Sirens still blared, while heavy smoke began to obscure Boruto's vision.
Boruto turned to Hinata-
"Yes, I sense it too." She said slowly.
The smoke wasn't just natural-
Some of it was the work of jutsu.
Was it the byproduct of Himawari's condition? Or was it something else?! Someone else?
Boruto shook his head.
I need to find Himawari. Whatever's next comes after.
It was then something sparked across Boruto's mind- through his skin, pulsed within his veins.
It was that strange.. moon again, the moon that hung behind a fog of black mist. It spoke again in that horrid, garbled language that Boruto somehow understood.
Cursed.. Eye!
He saw the field of humans kneeling before a glowing, horned idol, offering sacrifices of their own flesh to it.
But then-
"I know where she is!" Boruto's eyes shot open. He sprinted to the edge of the roof they were on, Hinata following close behind.
Boruto and his mother dashed into the smoke, blind save for Boruto's direction.
As they ran they passed various shinobi- some were running too- others on the ground, coughing up smoke amongst dead and dying civilians.
The damage seemed to be localized to the entertainment district of Konoha.. but still- it was a vast area.
All this from Hima..
Boruto continued.
They peeled down a cramped alley that coughed dying flames and plumes of ash. Himawari's chakra seemed to be roaring within the next belt of buildings ahead.
"Boruto.." Hinata whispered. Boruto grimaced-
This feeling.. it wasn't like anything he had ever experienced before. The chakra carried an immense weight of dread, as if it was beckoning fate itself.
Despite that, they continued, as any family would.
Boruto and Hinata rushed from the alley, then leapt across a series of burning buildings.
They flashed across rooftops, using chakra to supplement their speed so as to appear to the untrained eye as simple strikes of black across a foreboding horizon.
But then-
Boruto saw Naruto.
Hinata gasped.
Naruto was seated within a garden courtyard, the Kyuubi's chakra blazing about him as if he himself were aflame.
His hands were pressed together, while a chain of chakra linked him to..
Himawari.
But if it weren't for whatever sense was directing him, Boruto wouldn't have known the being across from Naruto was actually his sister.
Himawari herself was cloaked within a cruel chakra- it distorted her appearance. The shifting mirage of colors fashioned itself around her head as if a fox's mask. Her once blonde hair was now red, while tassels of chakra flew from the overflowing tendrils that whipped themselves into tails around Himawari's body.
She writhed on the ground, thrashing about as an alien scream emanated from the mask that encapsulated her.
"THIS IS BAD, NARUTO."
Naruto grimaced, sweat beading down his forehead.
"I know it is." He said gruffly, palms aching as chakra drained from his body.
Kurama offered a low, rumbling laugh.
"Do you, boy?"
Naruto was seated upon Kurama's snout. The fox demon dipped its head towards Himawari- or whatever was within her.
The being was comprised of a strange, new chakra. It was almost like..
No, that's impossible.
"This chakra seems to be some mixture of your natural chakra and my own. I'm surprised that woman's seal held for as long as it did."
Naruto frowned, his arms shaking.
It was taking almost all of their power to hold Himawari's own chakra back from taking her over- it's not that her chakra matched Naruto's or Kurama's-
It's just that it was powerful enough that if Naruto misapplied his chakra for even a second, Himawari could die.
But just as Naruto began to lose hope-
Something happened.
It stopped.
Both Kurama and Naruto widened their eyes in surprise as the orange waters of their inner world calmed.
The vortex of chakra that consumed Himawari receded back within her, before finally curling deep into the recesses of her consciousness.
"What.. what happened?" Naruto asked.
Kurama laughed- an almost disarming sound.
"That brat.. she really is like you. It seems.. she subconsciously re-sealed the chakra within herself, using the seal that was already upon her. The difference is.. she used the same chakra attacking her body for the seal."
"But to do that without direct fuinjutsu-"
"Like I said Naruto.. this chakra is a mixture of the both of ours. Due to this.. it's as if it's a much weaker variation of paths chakra. To think a human could be born with the powers like one of us Bijuu.."
KIBA STEPPED BACKWARDS.
The Jonin attendants Naruto had assigned to him both lay dead. One of them was currently being eaten by a large, wolffish black dog with long, shaggy fur. A red eye glowed from this dog's forehead.
But the dog that had his attention and fear was a much quieter one.
Its fur was white, beautiful and snowlike. It had a foxlike face, soft with wide eyes.
But it was the girl stitched to the ninken's body that filled Kiba with dread. That damnable survivor from the Chinoike clan- thought extinct after Sasuke's mission years ago.
Now she was a victim of one of Shota's experiments upon his own partners- an act that was unthinkable amongst the Inuzuka.
It was this very man that lurked past Junban, striding before Kiba as Kiba himself pressed against the wall. A tear fell from his eye-
Akamaru-
Naruto had agreed to keep Akamaru within the Hokage's grounds-
Thank you, Naruto.
I'm sorry. For everything.
Kiba gave a frustrated, despairing chuckle.
After all of that.. all this training, all the war.. this is how I die.
Kiba raised his head.
"Are you responsible for what's going on out there? That chakra?" He said finally.
Shota narrowed dark eyes.
"No. Though it was a providence that I used to my advantage. I'm here for you, of course." Shota whispered.
"Where did I go wrong, Shota?" Kiba asked breathlessly.
A tear fell from Shota's eye as the man formed a jutsu sign.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Kiba Inuzuka." Shota said.
"..Ketsuryugan.." the man's ninken lurched forward, the girl's motions mirroring Shota's own as red and reptile-like eyes glowed from a sheen of scarlet hair.
Kiba opened his mouth to speak, but as he did, a trail of blood dribbled from his teeth and onto his chin.
Kiba staggered backwards, sliding down the wall that became his last and final embrace.
With one more gurgling sigh, Kiba's eyes glossed over in silent, unceremonious death.
LOG rushed to the scent. He pounced from tree to tree, green hair whipping across his forehead.
He had been tracking Shin for nearly a month now- the man seemed to be moving for the land of Rivers.
But now.. something else caught his attention. The sense of a barrier being erupted within the deep woods of Konoha that bordered Rivers.
It only took a whiff of it for Log to tell that this was not only abnormal, but of grave danger.
However the feeling only lasted for a second.
But then, Log heard an explosion. That sound was closely followed by the smell of fire-
And burning bodies.
Log was nearly upon it now. He crashed through a gate of leaves, eyes instantly flexing upon a simple home with its entire second story blown away.
Chunks of charred wood were planted about the house, embers coiling with bright red heat within them.
Log rushed down to the scene. He strode through-
Before his eyes fell upon a young girl. She was burned too, but she was breathing. Half of her face seemed to be raw and beaten, but the other half was fine. Marks of a battle covered her- superficial wounds, but clues as to what happened nonetheless.
He knelt downwards, turning the girl over.
"Can you hear me..? What's your name?" Log asked softly.
The girl's eyes opened, revealing wide purple pupils.
"I'm.."
A tear fell from her eye. She seemed.. confused.
"I'm…no..no..Sh-.. I'm..no..t…Sh-..Sho..still.. Sumire.." she said as more tears fell from her eyes.
For a moment, her expression changed- it shifted from one of a confused, hurt child and to one of a cruel, violent entity.
The girl then fainted- her head softly hitting the ground behind it.
NEXT TIME: JEISHI, SAGE OF ENTROPY! THEN, THE RETURN OF SASUKE AND SARADA
