MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE – THE EXPERIMENT ARRIVES
The Hidden Leaf Camp
Come the evening the weather is mild with a red sky beckoning the imminent arrival of the night. Thankfully there is no rain, while the trees do help to shield those hiding under them from the rain, it would be bad for people such as Naruto and Hashirama. That is because the duo has recently sustained at the hands of the enemy's colonel, at the hands of Colonel Peterson. A cold would not go far towards assisting their recovery.
Uzumaki Naruto, the 7th Hokage remains silent and unmoving on the makeshift stretcher having not regained consciousness since he blacked out during his last fight. His body is hard to look at, whether it is the deep cuts are the darkened bruises or the missing arm. Sakura feels a sense of déjà vu as she looks upon her broken friend. He looks almost the same as the day he fought with Sasuke.
Following the revelation that Naruto's arm could be replaced and improved, Sakura gathered a group of individuals including Naruto's two children, Boruto and Himawari. Further to them, she also gathered two of the medical experts from the past, Senju Tsunade and Sarutobi Biwako.
"To create a fake limb from someone else's DNA" Biwako starts as Sakura finishes her explanation. "Is that even possible?".
"Lady Tsunade has done it before" comes the reply, "She showed me how to do it".
Tsunade is famed for medical capabilities unseen as far back as her grandfather Senju Hashirama. That is not to say that her medical jutsu are superior, quite the opposite, Hashirama could heal without even using signs, something Tsunade is not capable of, however, Tsunade came from a later era with more access to technology. Regardless of how great a genius the 1st Hokage was, the later Hokage would always be able to take his work and apply it.
"I don't have the experience required to do that yet" Tsunade notes, looking towards the woman who would one day become her pupil.
"I saw how you did it" Sakura replies, "I will explain it to you. I'm too old to perform the procedure but you… Lady Tsunade you can do it".
"Believe in yourself Tsunade" Mito approaches her granddaughter and places a hand on her shoulder. The 5th Hokage turns to see a brilliant smile and the face of her red-haired grandmother, "You were brought here for a reason, you were chosen. Doing this is your destiny".
"I may not have reached your legendary heights but I am a talented medical shinobi myself" Biwako promises to Tsunade, "I'll support you all the way".
Tsunade turns her head around, looking at the faces of each and every person in the room. Every single one of them radiates their belief in her, in her abilities. In a time where it would be easy to doubt her own abilities, the granddaughter of the 1st has no choice but to accept that she really could succeed.
She sighs, "OK, with you assisting me and Sakura's instruction I believe that I can succeed".
With a smile Sakura immediately begins to instruct to instruct her master on how the procedure works. There are many complicated elements to the process, to create a perfect arm that would compensate for the flow of six paths chakra is not an easy task, much less when you don't understand how to do it yourself. The first instruction is easy though, a tissue sample is required from Boruto.
"Is this OK with you Boruto?" Hinata asks her son. Though the procedure seems essential Naruto and Hinata are unanimous that their children shouldn't have to do this sort of thing if they don't want to. Even without Naruto awake to declare such Hinata knows that.
"Of course it is OK with me. Take my whole arm if you need to". Boruto enthusiastically declares his approval before rolling up his black sleeve and holding his arm out to his side.
Tsunade creates a scalpel from her chakra before taking a small tissue sample from Boruto. It is not a deep cut, something that you wouldn't notice unless it was pointed out to you but it is an important cut. This one cut could possibly change the fate of the ninja world.
"Still I don't get it" Boruto declares as he pulls his arm back into his sleeve, "Why did dad have an arm if you hadn't given him the prosthetic in the past yet?".
"It's because the method we used for other people was to apply Hashirama's cells to the wound, that regrew the limb almost instantly" Sakura recalls.
"My husband's regeneration ability is very impressive" Mito nods as she accepts the possibility of such a method.
"So why did dad need a prosthetic?" Himawari questions.
"Because Hashirama's cells only work because of his overwhelming chakra. His chakra was reliably far more than the patients, even just in one limb. Naruto is an exception to this rule" Sakura notes, "Also, we wanted Naruto at the strongest we could get him. We made the prosthetic specially to synchronise with his chakra. It was still limited though, the closest we could get to Naruto's cells was Hashirama's".
"Why not use his own cells" Himawari asks, "Couldn't you just take them from his other arm?".
Tsunade shakes her head, "It's to do with chakra points, how the cells are exposed to the chakra of the user".
"It's not something most medical shinobi would know" Sakura gives a wry smile as she sees the confusion on her friends faces, "Anyway, now that we have the tissue from his closest matching relative we should be able to create a perfect prosthetic".
"So dad will be at full power again" a smiling Himawari finishes.
"Exactly".
"Hold on, I remember dad fighting Momoshiki during the chunnin exams" Boruto thinks back to the day he learnt what it was to be a shinobi, the day he witnessed his father's strength. "Are you telling me that really wasn't his full power".
"No" Sakura shakes her head, "During the war he was stronger, much stronger".
Boruto looks at his own father in shock, "What a monster".
Mito shares the shock of her clan member. 'Despite being so far away I could sense this man's chakra when he was battling the Colonel'
'Naruto, just how strong are you?'.
The Next Day, A Clearing Near the Hidden Leaf Camp
Meeting in the clearing are an elite group. Boruto has chosen this spot to meet with his most trusted ally and his relatives. Gathered with him are his grandparents, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina as well as the current Hokage, the 9th Hokage, Uchiha Sarada.
"So they are going to give him a new prosthetic limb" Minato scratches his chin as he mulls over Boruto's story. "And it's going to be made from your cells?".
"That's right".
"The advances in medicine in this modern world are quite incredible" Kushina notes.
"You can say that again" Minato adds without knowing how to react.
"So the 7th… uh Naruto" Sarada corrects herself, again recalling the agreement that the Hokage should refer to one another by name, "He is going to be at his full power again".
"Yes" Boruto nods, "Apparently, he was significantly weaker after our births than he was during the war".
Of course, it was known that Naruto and Sasuke had a great power they used during the 4th great shinobi war, however, Boruto had always assumed his dad had trained and reached an equally impressive height following the conflict. To find out that his father, the strongest man he had ever met, could become even stronger still was incredible. It's enough to make any shinobi stop and think about just what they have achieved.
"No wonder he was so revered by our seniors" Sarada adds.
"Did you two really not know about this" Kushina asks, "It seems like a lot of other people knew more about their power than you did. Their own children".
"I think it's the position we were born into" Sarada concludes. Upon Minato pushing for a greater explanation she continues, "We took our parents power for granted. Our mothers always told us that our fathers were incredible but…".
"It's hard to understand how amazing someone is when you grow up with them" Boruto finishes, thinking back to when he jumped on his father to wake him up. That day was the day Naruto became Hokage, or took a nap, depending on who you ask. "Everyone looks up to their parents but they also fail to understand how incredible they truly are. That's human nature".
"I see".
"How is your training?" Boruto turns to his grandfather and clenches his fists, "I assume you are training harder than ever before?".
"Yes" Minato answers.
"To be given this chance" Sarada takes a deep breath of fresh air, "It's been so long since I've had the opportunity to just sit down and train".
"I assume you are trying to unlock the rinnegan?".
Hearing Boruto's question Minato's mouth opens widely, recalling all the stories he has heard, the legends. "The rinnegan, the eyes of the sage of the six paths…".
"Yeah. These eyes are the eyes of my father" Sarada explains while tapping the frames of her glasses, "While they were originally rinnegan I haven't been able to awaken it myself yet. Now, they are simply eternal Mangekyo Sharingan".
"Why" Kushina asks, herself not having an in-depth understanding of the Uchiha clan's eyes.
"The trick to awakening them seemed to be the chakra of the Senju clan" Boruto recalls the stories his master told him about the birth of his eyes, "But that didn't work".
"Hashirama's cells didn't help me to unlock the rinnegan" sighs the last descendant of the Uchiha clan, "I don't know what will".
"Don't give up" Kushina places a hand on Sarada's arm and smiles into her eyes, "You have to keep trying for the sake of the village. You are the Hokage".
"I know, it's just demotivating".
"We're all here if you need help Sarada" Kushina continues.
"Thank you, I'll be fine though". Sarada feels deep gratitude towards the Kushina's kind-heartedness in this moment. She had been thrust into the future without any knowledge of what was happening, she met her grandchildren despite not having had children yet and she was taking it so well and being so supportive.
"I'm going to see if my father has woken up" Boruto says as he begins to walk away.
"I hope he has… we need him right now".
Following their conversation, Sarada split off from Minato and Kushina and once more proceeded to train. She throws punches rapidly into the air before her, attempting to drain herself of all stamina as part of her exhaustion training. Beads of sweat drop down from her forehead as the speed with which she punches increases further and further, the microscopic improvements from her training are evident but she is clear in the knowledge that what she requires is macroscopic.
Sarada is distracted by the shaking of the bushes behind her, though after inspecting them with her eternal Mangekyo Sharingan she finds nothing of note, only some insects and a bird. She shrugs her shoulders and continues to train.
The Medical Area
"No changes then" Boruto sighs as he approaches his family.
Hinata shakes her head as her son approaches the man who becomes her husband, he gets closer and closer until something happens very suddenly.
Naruto takes a deep breath of air.
"B… B…B… Boru… Boruto" he breathes out.
Boruto quickly grabs his hand, "Hey, I'm here dad, so is mom and Himawari too".
"The… the… there's…".
"Calm down Naruto" comes the chastising voice of Sakura as she approaches the makeshift stretcher, "You're in a state of shock".
Naruto swallows the saliva in his mouth, his voice becoming steadier thus. "There's something terrifying out there, I can feel it".
"Hey" Boruto says reassuringly, "Don't worry, we can deal with anything while you recover".
"You don't understand" Naruto says as he shakes his head quickly from side to side, "It's already got past our defences".
"Don't be silly, Shikadai and Shikamaru organised the patrols themselves, Mitsuki is leading them. Unless the enemy got a copy of our military procedures they wouldn't be able to get through".
"Don't you remember" Hinata asks with a smile, "The strongest enemies are all busy preparing themselves for the contest".
Naruto once more shakes his head, "It's not one of them, it's different. It has an aura like the insane warriors".
Himawari walks around to the other side of the stretcher, rubbing her father's hair, "See, that's nothing we can't handle dad".
"This one is stronger" Naruto's head shaking turns to nodding, "I can feel it, it's already gotten past the patrols… I can feel the negative emotion".
A moment of silence passes as everyone looks at one another, not knowing what to say to calm Naruto down. Until suddenly one of them speaks, saying something the others never would have wanted to hear.
"He's right" Mito says, "I can feel the negative emotion too".
Sarada's Training Ground
Once more the bushes rattle behind Sarada, in the same way they did before.
She shakes her head though, 'You're just imagining things Sarada'.
She continues to believe this, chanting it to herself as she hears the sustained rustle of the bush. She continues to believe this right up to the moment…
The moment chakra surges behind her.
So, she slowly turns around…
The Medical Area
"THERE" Naruto shouts at the top of his lungs, "You can feel it can't you".
Suddenly Boruto's eyes widen, so much so that they look like they could pop from their sockets. Not a second later he runs without a word of explanation, he runs towards Sarada.
"Oh my god" Sakura mutters as she begins to fall to her knees, only for Tsunade to catch her.
"Hey Sakura, get a hold of yourself".
"What the hell is going on" Biwako asks, looking between the various people who seem to understand. "What is this chakra?",
"It's him" Himawari glumly declares.
"Him?".
"This terrifying chakra… it can only belong to one man".
Sarada's Training Ground
Upon turning around, Sarada looks at the figure behind her, at the very least it is humanoid. Its eyes begin to open very slowly, revealing a pattern of black and red.
The Medical Area
"Who does this chakra belong to" Mito asks hurriedly.
Himawari trembles as the words slip from her mouth.
"Uchiha… Sasuke…".