HOPE, A THING OF THE PAST – THE ULTIMATE GATHERING
The Clearing
A white field of energy continuously fluctuates around Sarada. In the entire world, not a single other person would can produce such an enormous chakra. Since the deaths of Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, Sarada has been recognised by many as having the most chakra in the ninja world. To attain a power on par with the tailed beasts is no easy feat so few in history have can achieve it. Yet as chakra continues to pour from Sarada's body, as her stamina continues to deplete and as her strength begins to fail there is an incurable agony in her heart.
'Have I failed'.
As the last drops of chakra flow from the Hokage's body she falls to one knee, then both knees. She stops for a moment, unable to bear the strain any more, clutching at her chest as she struggles to breath. To continue after having gone through so much should be impossible, but this is Sarada Uchiha.
Once more with an almost primal scream she presses her thumb to the floor and screams as she empties chakra from any final reserves she can find. Yet it is no good, unable to continue she falls flat onto her face, before quickly tilting her head so she can spit out the blood that has gathered in her mouth.
Rolling over onto her back Sarada looks up into the cloud filled sky, as if to speak to her father in the heavens.
'Dad… I'm sorry… It was my fault the village…'.
At that moment, something happens that Sarada doesn't expect, something happens that she felt just a moment ago was impossible. A lost hope returned, a forgotten dream remembered, a group of figures bursts through the clouds above her.
The group containing 12 people, the exact number Sarada had hoped to summon plummet towards the ground without much grace or balance. It is evident that they too have been drained of almost all chakra.
That matters little though for this group contains the last hope for the hidden leaf village.
This group contains, the first seven Hokage.
This group contains the man who has always been the hidden leaf village's greatest hope.
This group contains, Uzumaki Naruto.
Sarada leans her head forward to inspect the people falling towards her, seven Hokage, seven faces that just yesterday had been adorning the Hokage monument. Together with them 5 others, five loved ones of the Hokage, included in that group, someone much younger now than 5 minutes ago. Hyuuga Hinata.
Sarada lets the rear of her skull fall back against the cold ground beneath her, "Hinata… it worked".
As the 12-shinobi hit the ground around Sarada their arrivals are represented by great thumps. She laughs to herself slightly, the greatest hope in years had just arrived and it had made such an unceremonious entrance.
Spinning herself around Sarada groans at her own position, unable to stand she is forced to greet these heroes while laying on her stomach. Not only that but using such a dangerous technique means that she has forced them to do the same. She just pulled of the impossible yet now she is experiencing the most awkward of emotions.
"Huh… what is going on?" Naruto asks as he looks around to see many familiar faces.
"I had a strange chakra surging around me and then…" begins the 2nd Hokage, Senju Tobirama. Normally calm and collected the 2nd begins to explain what happened to him aloud carelessly before pausing, as he looks to his right. "Brother… you're alive!".
"Alive?" Hashirama repeats with a raised eyebrow, correctly reflecting the strangeness of the remark.
"Hashirama, your little brother is acting strangely" a red-haired woman comments. A woman made famous for being one of the last surviving members of the Uzumaki clan, Uzumaki Mito.
"Mito" slips from the lips of yet another of the summoned, someone very familiar with the wife of the first Hokage, for they were the first two jinchuriki of the nine tails.
"The first Hokage has no recollection of dying… do you remember your death Minato sensei?" Kakashi asks. The sixth Hokage is easily distinguishable by his mask, something he has worn publicly ever since his youth.
"Is that you Kakashi?" comes the reply, "You're all grown up".
"Please, let me explain" calls Sarada, drawing the attention of her predecessors. Once more before she is able though, she coughs deeply, blood splattering from her mouth onto the green grass below.
"Hey, are you alright" the first Hokage asks.
"Brother, we are all laying on the floor, drained of chakra, you are in no position to offer help" Tobirama counters
"Still…".
"My name" Sarada begins, "My name is Uchiha Sarada… I'm the 9th Hokage".
In one breath, all the 12 shinobi of the past call out in surprise, "9th!".
"The hidden leaf village has come into a period of great difficulty" the latest Hokage explains, "so I created a jutsu of terrifying power".
The Hokage of the past listen intently, particularly drawn by mentions of a jutsu of terrifying power. Whether it was the deep forest emergence, the reanimation jutsu, the kamui or the rasen shuriken, they have all dealt with terrifying jutsu in the past. Yet the tone of Sarada's voice implies that this jutsu is different.
"I cloned the Hokage of the past, then I brought them and their spouses into the future".
"Their spouses" Mito stammers, "Why bring us forward to".
"A kindness" Hiruzen comments as he looks to Biwako at his side, "A great kindness".
"WE'RE IN THE FUTURE" Naruto shouts hysterically, though the others remain composed enough to ignore his antics.
"Dan, you really became Hokage" smiles Tsunade.
"That isn't true I'm afraid" Kakashi interjects, "You became the Hokage Lady Tsunade". Kakashi sighs as Tsunade looks on in surprise, who is he to her, they have never met before yet this man is her successor. The man known as the 6th Hokage, telling her that she was the 5th. "Your grandparents probably have no clue who you are" he continues as he nods towards the 1st Hokage.
"Could it be that you're our…" begins Mito
"I'M A GRANDFATHER" Hashirama takes his turn to yell hysterically.
Sarada shakes her head at the volume. The two Hokage whom history has saved its reverence for unreservedly, the 1st Hokage and the 7th Hokage, yet these two are the ones shouting like village idiots.
"Does that mean I became Hokage!" Naruto asks, having calmed down slightly.
"Uzumaki Naruto" Sarada begins, "you became the single most legendary figure in the ninja world… yes, you became the 7th Hokage".
"Uzumaki" the word rolls of Kushina's tongue as if completely alien to her. A man named after the hero in Jariya's book, a man who had Minato's blonde hair.
"You mean you don't recognise me mum?".
"MUM?" Kushina yells.
Ignoring his mother's over-the-top reaction something occurs to Naruto as he begins to scratch his chin. He looks at the people surrounding him as the conclusion continues to form in his mind. In his inner world, his partner Kuruma holds his head as he watches Naruto's slowly digesting his surroundings.
"Wait, if we have been brought here with our partners…" he starts.
Hinata realises what Naruto is saying and begins to blush terribly, all her life she has been nervous around the hero that is Naruto. It's embarrassing enough around familiar people, yet around some of history's most famous shinobi, surrounded by Naruto's parents it is even more awkward.
"Do Hinata and I get married" Naruto asks, himself slightly flustered by the sudden revelation.
"Yes… I'm sorry, it's a bit awkward that you found out this way but the Hinata of this time requested it".
"Why not summon me from 10 years in the future?" Naruto asked.
"I summoned you from the moment in history that I believed you to be at your strongest, for you it was following the 4th Great Shinobi War. That's what I need, in this dire situation, I need the full might of the previous Hokage".
"So I became the 6th Hokage" Kakashi notes, "If you are the 9th and Naruto is the 7th, who was the 8th Hokage?".
The youngest member of the Uchiha clan's expression dims as she recalls events that happened just earlier in the day. "Sarutobi Konohamaru, he gave his life so that I would get the chance to summon you".
Hiruzen's expression firms up as the name reaches his ears, "Sarutobi, is he?".
"He is your grandson from later in your life, he was born a few years before your death" Naruto answers with a smile, "He was a great shinobi… oh, so is Lady Tsunade, she's one of your pupils one day".
"Oh… nice to meet you" Hiruzen offers, not quite knowing what to say.
A realisation comes to Sarada who focuses, the bizarre situation had been too distracting and had made her complacent. "Never mind all of this, we should move, who knows when… when… when…".
"Worried about something?" taunts a newcomer from behind the 9th Hokage.
Sarada looks behind and her face contorts in terror. Stood not too far from her is a smug looking man with long black hair. She judges that from his skin texture and facial structure that he is likely in his middle 50s. He wears a bronze coloured cloak and his green uniform has a number 3 clearly written on his chest.
"It's one of their captains".
"This man is an enemy?" Dan asks.
"Yeah".
'Not good' Tobirama concludes, 'Not even my brother has gotten to his feet yet… we cannot fight this man right now'.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Biwako asks.
"Don't tell me after all this… that we are just going to die" Sarada curses as she clenches her fist.
Suddenly a surge of chakra comes from one of the fallen shinobi as he somehow wills his way to his feet. This chakra does not come from a tailed beat yet it is unfamiliar to all the shinobi present. The one getting to his feet is Uzumaki Naruto, using not Kuruma's chakra but using his own.
Tobirama gasps at the rising shinobi, someone getting to his feet quicker than even his brother 'What a monster'. Unfortunately, he is quickly let down by the drain of Naruto's chakra, the blonde falls gently onto his back as he loses what remains of his strength. Not even a Hokage could get up after losing so much chakra.
The enemy captain laughs to himself, such amazing aura's these people have and yet they are unable to do anything. It seems to be his lucky break that he has caught them at such an opportune moment. Swinging his arm from his chest to the outside of his body, blue streaks of electricity crawl along from his shoulder to his hand before flying towards the downed shinobi. A sea of blue that would seal the fall of the hidden leaf village and all its citizens, an attack with enough power to engulf them all in one go.
'Kuruma, can't you do something' Naruto asks his partner.
'I'm just as drained as you are' the fox groans in reply.
Naruto is then distracted from his discussion, not by the crackling of lightning but by a weapon that flies past his head, it's a kunai. The kunai is quickly followed by another and another again, tens of them fly past his head, each with a pocket of super-condensed air behind it that explodes stopping the lightning in its tracks.
Kakashi is intrigued by the collision of power but doesn't dare use his Sharingan to observe it when so low on chakra. 'That lightning was monstrously strong, even stronger than my raikiri yet it was deflected so easily'.
'Who could do such a thing' Minato contemplates.
For the first time in what feels like days Sarada's lips curl into an enormous smile as she realises what is happening.
"Go scout the enemy lines, look for weak spots she tells us" a man complains, "What was she thinking".
"You can't blame her; it was the right decision and you know it" argues a woman. The duo approaches from behind the summoned Hokage, coming into Sarada's eyes to confirm her suspicions of their identity.
"And now I've come back to find that my village has been destroyed… I'm allowed to be a little bit angry" he whinges with surprisingly little enthusiasm, his calm demeanour giving the hidden leaf shinobi a sense of safety.
"Who are you?" the captain asks to the newcomers.
"Who are we… HA" the woman laughs coldly.
"A lot of the people you just tried to kill are friends and family of mine" the man explains as he ties a hidden leaf head protector around the top of his skull, "Did you honestly think I would let you get away with it".
"9th… who is this?" Hiruzen asks.
"They are two of my most trusted shinobi" comes the reply.
"Sarutobi Mirai and…".
"Uzumaki Boruto!".
Boruto walks slowly over to his parents, as if he is not being stared down by a terrifyingly powerful foe. "Well well, I didn't expect to see you two looking so well when I came back?".
"Are you…" Hinata begins.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions" Boruto interrupts his mother, "Right now isn't the time, the grumpy one is staring this way".
Boruto's hands begin to move at incredible rate, forming sign after sign. If the shinobi gathered weren't so talented then they would not even be able to see the signs being formed, such is the grace and skill Boruto forms them with. As he completes the final sign tens of kunai on the floor before the enemy captain come flying back towards him. Each of the stops just short of him before turning to point at the enemy captain.
A slow change takes place in Boruto's eyes as they begin to chance from a brilliant blue to a solid white colour.
This is the byakugan.
Mirai watches her friend with a smile, her recent work with him increasing her confidence that he is going to win this battle.
"I have to take care of this guy first".