HOPE, A THING OF THE PAST – DESPAIR, OUR WORLD
The Hidden Leaf Camp
Boruto walks briskly through the camp with a wry smile on his face. To his left are large wooden constructs, to his left are small residential wooden houses. To create something like this for the duration of a single night was unthinkable but a few days ago, yet now, with the summoning of the Hokage, this has become possible. Naturally, the power to construct these buildings is the power of Senju Hashirama, the 1st Hokage and his kekkai genkai, the wood release.
Though the villagers are no longer stood out in the open it is not difficult for someone of Boruto's skill to locate the Hokage. Not only is he an expert who uses the Byakugan but he is also adept in the techniques of a sensory shinobi. Finding someone like his father, Uzumaki Naruto, who had such unyielding chakra is all too simple.
Sensing his father's chakra, Boruto gently opens the door to a small hut. Quietly the door opens, loud enough to be noticed yet quiet enough to not disturb the explanation that Sakura is giving.
"So Sasuke and I had a daughter" Sakura concludes, "And now she's the Hokage".
A huge smile covers Naruto's face, "That's great" he shouts, "So Sasuke started protecting the village again".
Bringing Sasuke back to the village was Naruto's greatest challenge in the past, his best friend, someone that only Naruto could bring back. To hear that he had succeeded, that Sasuke had come back to the village after their battle, is of great relief to the eventual 7th Hokage.
Sakura nods "You brought him back to us Naruto".
"Thank you Lord 7th" Sarada adds with a bow of her head.
"Naruto" comes the voice of Kakashi. "I came forward from… well the war hadn't even started yet, Lady Tsunade just told me I was one of the give generals".
"Congratulations on bringing Sasuke back" he finishes.
"Well I hadn't really done it yet, he was still a rogue ninja when I last spoke with him but it feels good to know that I would have brought him back eventually" Naruto smiles, "Thank you, Kakashi sensei, Sakura".
"I'm glad the Uchiha broke free of their curse" Tobirama shrugs as he closes his eyes.
"I told you never to distance them from the rest of the village" Hashirama shakes his head as he scolds his younger brother.
"It matters little now; it looks like everything turned out alright".
"Until they came…" Himawari adds.
Silence descends on the room as they all reflect on this. Together they had all prepared the circumstances needed for a hero to emerge but that hero had to be truly forgiving, truly kind. That hero was Uzumaki Naruto and he had emerged, he brought peace to the ninja world that had been crying out for help. Years' worth of death and destruction all laid to rest and resolved by one man. Yet what they hadn't anticipated is that the attackers would be from beyond the world they knew, such a thing was after all, unthinkable to them.
"So how did these attackers arrive" Hiruzen asks.
"We don't know exactly" the 9th answers, "They came from the west, past the land of wind".
"There were thousands of them, to say the least the bulk of their forces were insane. God knows what caused them to lose their minds though. It's as if they have lost the ability to think for themselves, still they are horrific to face in battle. They never retreat, they never give up and they never show any mercy".
"If they have lost their mind why are they attacking you" Kakashi questions.
"We don't know… perhaps the captains have some way of controlling them that we don't understand".
Tobirama recalls the military tactics he witnessed during the warring states period, "Have you never been able to capture a captain and get information out of them?".
"No" comes the answer, "They are too strong, all they seem to be interested in is hunting us to extinction".
Boruto speaks up, drawing the gazes of the historical figures to the wall on which he is leaning, "Something has become quite clear by the way they fight" he begins, "They are not of this world".
"Uhm… excuse me" Hinata says with a raised hand.
Himawari laughs at the action, "You're our mother, stop being so nervous".
"What is it mom?" Boruto asks.
"If they are so overwhelmingly strong and we have no idea what their motivation is, how can we possibly fight them".
"I only have the start of a plan" Sarada explains.
"What is that?".
"My plan was to bring back the only ones who could fight against them… my plan was to bring back the Hokage".
Hashirama smiles, "We won't let you down Lord 9th, our hard work has helped to forge this village, to mould it into what it has become today. We won't let it disappear without a fight".
Sarada recalls something that she was taught in the academy. A village is not a series of buildings, a place where people live or even a place people call home. A village is a group of people working together, smiling together, crying together, living together and dying together. Thus, if they are not alone, the village will survive.
"Oh" Boruto mumbles as he leans forward from the wall, "Lord 3rd, the woman who accompanied me earlier would quite like to speak to you and your wife".
"She would?" Hiruzen starts.
"Yes, she's your granddaughter".
An Hour Later, Near the Camp
A tree has always rested in this spot, a tree that is much taller than the surrounding trees. The leaves on the tree change with the seasons, their colours forming a spectacular rainbow at times or a monochrome green at others yet the leaves never fall.
While the trees colour is spectacular, what is truly spectacular is the view from the tree. Though miles away lakes and rivers dot the horizon while birds sing in the canopy above. If one were to look from the tree they would be greatly tempted to never come down. For at the top of this tree, it is as if the war doesn't exist.
Sat in the tree are two of the people from the past. One of them a Hokage, one of them his wife. The only thing hindering a happy romantic moment is the circumstance in which they have been brought forward. They are not yet married. Not Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata.
The pair sit next to one another on a long thin branch with their legs dangling over the edge, staring at the horizon.
"Hinata, we should really talk about all this" Naruto finally says.
"Yeah".
"It's really weird you know" Naruto begins with a chuckle, "We aren't even together yet and we have children".
"Two of them".
Naruto nods, "Exactly, and they are both older than we are".
"That's right" Hinata notes, not sure how to feel about having children older than herself.
"But" Naruto interrupts her thoughts, "I'm pretty proud of them both ya know"
Hinata looks Naruto in the eye, as if to verify his sincerity. She was terrified but a moment ago that he might reject the idea of having children, that it might ruin any friendship that she and Naruto might have going into the future. She shakes her head slightly as she pinches the back of her hand, 'I should have known Naruto better than that… he would never reject anyone, especially his own children'.
A smile comes to Hinata's face as she decides to stop overthinking the situation, "They have both done well in a really difficult situation, they are just like you".
"You've done well in tricky situations as well" Naruto replies, "If you hadn't stood up to Pain that day then none of us would have been here".
"Thank you".
Another awkward pause while Naruto thinks of what he is trying to say. 'Why am I so bad at talking to girls… didn't Pervy Sage teach me anything'. He thinks back to the time he spent with Jariya and his exposure to his genre of literature much earlier in life than most men, 'If Pervy Sage would have said it that would probably have been the wrong thing'.
"Hinata" he mutters as he rubs the tree with his hand, "So few things in life are certain, my parents died when I was very young and Neji died only a few days… years ago. But you and I… if anything is certain it's that we work well together".
Hinata smiles, "Yes".
"I know it's not the same as it would have been but…".
"Naruto…".
The blonde scratches the back of his head and smiles awkwardly, "Sorry, I don't really know how to say any of this".
"We… we have a rare chance to fall in love knowing that it works out well" he rushes to say, "I want to make the most of that, if you do as well".
Hinata's face turns as red as a tomato but she nods gently, "Yes, Naruto".
Naruto opens his arms to his partner with a much less awkward smile. "Let's protect our kids together, Hinata".
"Yes" she answers as the embrace in a warm loving hug.
"Am I interrupting something?".
Naruto and Hinata's heads snap to the side, to a figure they would soon come to know well, to Boruto.
Realising that Boruto probably just heard everything they were discussing, Hinata blushes and quickly jumps away, back towards the village.
"Is something wrong with her?" her son asks.
"She was just embarrassed that you walked in on us hugging" Naruto replies. Hinata has always been awkward and embarrassed around Naruto and that was just talking with him. To be seen hugging him was something that she wouldn't be able to remain calm about.
"I'm your son…" Boruto remarks, reminding Naruto that he shouldn't feel awkward around someone so familiar with him.
"Yeah, Hinata… uh, your mother has always been like that". Naruto sighs internally, 'It's going to take me ages to get used to saying that'.
"So I see" Boruto smiles, after such a prolonged period of misery and suffering her reflects on how nice it is to see someone behaving so innocent. Through the course of the war he has led many squads of shinobi against the invading forces, he has lost a lot of shinobi. He has lost good shinobi; he has lost good friends.
"Dad, are we alone?".
"Alone?" Naruto stammers, not quite understanding what Boruto means. He scratches his chin, taking a moment to snap from his stupor. "Oh alone as in… are we being watched". The 7th Hokage reaches out through his senses, using Kuruma's chakra to amplify his capabilities.
"Yes, it seems like we are alone".
"Thank god" Boruto sighs as he drops onto the branch before leaning against the stem of the tree. It is as if months of stress leave his body in a single moment but Naruto also feels something else leaving his body, something tangible, as if death itself is evacuating from his veins.
"Hey Boruto, what's wrong with you?" Naruto asks as he leans over towards his son.
"It was terrible" Boruto murmurs, as if recalling events from a story.
"I'm going to get help". Naruto bends his knee and prepares to push up, to look for Sakura or Lady Tsunade in hope that they can help.
"Don't" Boruto stretches his hand out towards his father, his fingers reaching for him as if chasing after him, "Nobody can know about this, just you and I".
"What is that stuff that came out from your body" Naruto asks.
"I don't know" his son answers honestly, "It first happened when I led an attack on the enemy's forces. That day with the help of my subordinates I managed to defeat two captains but the price was great".
"On that day everyone died… everyone apart from me. I didn't want to survive, I collapsed, completely exhausted and prayed to the heavens, I prayed that I would die. Ever since then this… ethereal substance has built up in my body. The more death I witness the more it builds".
"Does it hurt?" Naruto asks.
"Immensely" comes the reply, "But you felt just how awful that energy is, nobody could endure its presence, they would be driven mad. So, I release it in private… nobody knows that this energy is building up except you".
"Is there always so much of it?".
Boruto shakes his head, "No, there was more this time because I witnessed something indescribable".
"Mirai and I, I told Sarada we were just going to scout behind enemy lines but there was more".
"More?" Naruto starts.
"Yeah, I went to investigate the origins of the invaders, I went west of the hidden sand village. I found some sort of passageway, some sort of portal that was guarded by a few of their soldiers".
"The portal was vibrating, moving rapidly from side to side as if it were a caged animal. I thought it might move at any second so I decided I had to investigate what was on the other side. Still, I didn't know what it was. The enemy is already so terrifying".
"So what did you do?".
"I used a genjutsu to hide it from Mirai, I distracted her with a clone while my real body went to investigate. On the other side, there were… soldiers gathered, millions of them, there were captains and colonels too and…".
"And…?".
"I saw that general, the one who killed you".
"A general killed the me from this time?".
"Yes" Boruto answers, "It was the worst pain that Himawari and I have ever had to endure but for mom… I think it was even worse. If there is an afterlife, I'm happy that she has been given the opportunity to reunite with you".
"Hinata…" Naruto stammers, feeling somewhat guilty that he had caused his wife from this time so much pain before her passing, "So, you saw this general".
"Yes, it happened right after the invasion, you and my master, Sasuke, went to fight that general. He was leading the invasion so you two came out of retirement to fight him. But you lost, he killed you both".
"Hey, I will get stronger" Naruto firmly fixes his into the eyes of his son, "I won't lose again, I will find a way, no matter what".
"No you don't understand, he was talking to another general".
"There was a general even stronger than him".
"AN EVEN STRONGER ONE".
"Yeah, she was so strong, I just stood there while they talked, like I was paralysed, I just couldn't move. Then she looked at me… SHE SAW ME… and then, then she smiled. She turned to the troops on the ground and she launched an attack, not on but on her own troops".
"One attack… she killed all of them".
"Millions of dead in a second, that is the sort of power we are competing against".
"Don't you see what I am saying dad, there is no way we can win, we're all going to die and there's nothing that anyone can do about it".
"Boruto…" Naruto gently calls his name.
"That's what you just felt, the death of a million people, the pain flowing from my body".
"Boruto…".
"I can't tell the others; I can't rob them of their hope and I know I shouldn't have robbed you of yours but I…".
"BORUTO" Naruto shouts this time, focusing the attention of his son firmly onto him.
"I haven't known you very long" Naruto begins, "And I don't know you very well but I'm going to make you a promise. I will save you, all of you".
"Don't you get it; don't you remember what I said to that captain. 'Welcome to despair, welcome to our world', there is no way to save us" Boruto argues.
Despite the morbid words of his son Naruto's gaze doesn't shift, it doesn't waver. The look of determination on his face is so clear, not even the foremost masters of genjutsu could assure Boruto so much with any one visual.
"Why" Boruto stammers, "despite everything, despite the despair, why won't you give up hope".
"I'll never give up because that's my ninja way" Naruto answers with a smile. With that he gets to his feet and scratches the back of his head, his awkward smile returning, "And…".
"And…".
"Because I'm your father".