WAR NEVER ENDS – WHERE IS MY SON?
Clyde's Headquarters
Peterson leads Hinata and Naruto through the groups of captains. Every one of them gives Naruto the same look. Hinata believes it to be a look Naruto had seen in his youth. Hinata believes they are looking down on him, treating him like dirt, like a germ. Naruto knows different. There is a fear in their eyes, a respect that can only be earned on the battlefield. Each and every person here, whether they wish to or not, knows they cannot tangle with the 7th Hokage.
Peterson arrives at the end of a long stretch of tents. There is a walkway, flanked on either side by open-doored tents with one solitary larger tent at the end. The larger tent has a closed door, red triangular patterns outline the canvas. This tent is clearly special, just looking at it is enough for Hinata to know what is inside. This is General Clyde's tent.
The scar-faced colonel raises his hand to the front of his mouth and coughs, a deliberate, transparent cough. Taking this as a signal, tens of captains line the walkway, forming a guard of honour between the colonel, the two guests and the general's tent.
Lead by their former adversary, Naruto and Hinata proceed down the walkway, flanked by the captains of the enemy military. Each of their uniforms is perfect, as if they had been preparing for an important visitor. The former stares from the invaders have disappeared and the hidden-leaf duo proceed, as if an influential guest to a lord's castle.
Naruto and Hinata enter the tent. Inside is the most elite group of people to ever come to this world, people who once came so close to killing all of its inhabitants.
Colonel Sisto, twirling his short blonde hair as he takes in the guests' appearance.
Colonel Burns, her fiery appearance betraying her ice-cold nature.
Colonel Grace, a hit of fear in her eyes as she sees this terrifying man once again.
Colonel Sheer stands near the front of the group, the intellectual, the group's effective mother, the guardian.
The new colonel, Colonel Dred, the man who first led Naruto to the captained-six contest.
The leader, the only one in the room who smiles, the man who killed the Naruto and Sasuke of this time. General Clyde.
"General, I'm sure no introduction is needed" Peterson says as he gestures to the duo, "This is Uzumaki Naruto and…".
Hinata speaks her name allowed, noting that Peterson is at a loss. "I'm Naruto's fiancée, Boruto's mother".
"I see" Clyde nods, largely uninterested in Hinata, "It's a pleasure to finally have you here, Naruto, we have waited a long time".
They have waited a long time, Naruto has no idea what that is supposed to mean. While they have brought up his name in recent days they hadn't been pining for contact with him prior to that. He finds it suspicious but puts it down to paranoia, he has no time for analysis now that he is here.
"I'm sorry Clyde but my village is suffering, everyone is terrified right now" he says as an excuse. "But, if I'm being honest, I feel the most terrified of anyone, Hinata and I have so much to worry about. So, I need you to tell me, where is my son, where is Boruto?".
The colonels in the room exchange glances. Naruto and Hinata have no idea what the glances mean but are sure they can't be good. Coming here is a great risk, perhaps not even Naruto could defeat the entire invading force should hostilities erupt. Very few things could push them so far, could make them risk so much, Boruto is one of them.
While the colonels exchange glances, their leader maintains his analytical mind. "I seem to recall that Uzumaki Boruto is older than yourself, in that case how could he…".
"Answer the question!" Naruto shouts.
Part of the reason for his shout was his anger and urgency but there is more to it than that. As of yet, nobody outside the village knows that Naruto travelled through time. The 7th Hokage is unsure of whether he should reveal that information and certainly won't do it without consulting the circle. For his safety and for everyone else's.
"I'm afraid that I know nothing of your son's whereabouts" Clyde admits with a sigh, leaning back in his chair.
"A man showed up to kidnap him" Hinata explains. "He had a lot of followers with him, he wore a black cloak".
"A black cloak…".
Clyde looks around his subordinates, between them they are responsible for each Captain under the general's command. Patrols cover the majority of the lands, yet he recalls no mention in any reports about a mysterious intruder wearing a black cloak.
Indeed, he is met be a series of shaking heads. All of the apart from one. Colonel Dred.
"Sir, I did have one report from one of my subordinates previously but I didn't believe it at the time" Dred explains, "They were scouting and claimed they saw someone from our world out of uniform, it could have been this man".
In recent days Dred has been dealing with many reports of real damage, of real sightings of others from their world. He has been doing his best to collate reliable reports of the threat and how best to combat it. Amongst all that, he had considered a rumour from one of his more inexperienced subordinates to be insignificant. How wrong that would prove.
"Tell me exactly what happened" Clyde requested of the local couple.
"I wasn't there so I am not certain on all the details" Naruto says "What I do know is that the village was suddenly surrounded by people wearing black. These people were definitely not from our world".
"I was there, there were hundreds of them". Hinata's recollection is still chilling to Naruto. "They surrounded the village walls equally spaced. They didn't open hostilities but the way they stood there… it certainly wasn't a warm welcome".
"Apparently, this group dressed very similarly to the man who took Boruto. They all hummed a tune in unison, similar to a war cry but gentler. One of them, possibly their leader, showed up on the roof of one of our buildings".
Clyde has already begun to understand that this was a deliberate attack on the Hidden Leaf. He has already been notified of Naruto's encounter with Elliot, a general with a transcendent element. Clearly the assailants had been waiting for this gap in security, they knew Naruto wouldn't be there.
"Boruto was standing there with Sarada, assessing the situation and preparing to defend us". The Hyuuga heiress does her best to hold back from crying. "He took Boruto away and Hashirama gave his life trying to protect him".
"Hashirama died?!" Grace's eyes speak to the shock she feels.
Colonel Grace is a mighty master of fire, promoted to colonel when she first manifested the elemental fire cloak. She was Hashirama's opponent in the captained-six contest. She had won because the 1st Hokage had overexerted himself but knew that she had lost to him personally.
The remainder of the colonels feel the same as Grace. Senju Hashirama had impressed them almost as much as Naruto during that contest. While Naruto had defeated them by achieving what they fought to be impossible, Hashirama hadn't needed that. Not one of the colonels could defeat the wood-user one-on-one. Through chakra alone, Hashirama had become a mighty warrior. He had told Sarada that when only considering chakra, he was even stronger than Naruto.
"You mean that when I came to defend your village, that guy had already died?" Peterson asks.
"He wasn't that guy". Naruto's fingers itch as he is forced to restrain his anger, "He was Senju Hashirama, the 1st Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, as well as my friend. You would do well to remember that".
"I…" Peterson quickly silences himself, he cannot rebuke.
"This guy who kidnapped Boruto, apparently he used the same substance that leaked from Boruto's body to attack".
Back during the captained-six contest, Dred had felt it. He had felt the terrifying power within Boruto and had consulted with the then-colonels about it. They all knew how it felt, they all knew that if that power could be harnessed it would be deadly.
Clyde leans forward slightly, showing Naruto the severity of the situation. "Naruto, are you certain".
"I wasn't there but his fiancée, Sarada was there, she wouldn't make a mistake. It was definitely the same power".
The air in the room seems to change to Hinata. There is something in the way that everyone reacts, something that speaks to the seriousness of the situation. Clearly, that ominous substance that has followed Boruto is even more mysterious than it had seemed at first.
"Please, do you have any idea who it could have been? Do you know where our son is?".
Clyde disappoints them.
"I honestly have no idea".
The Portal
The captains that have come as part of the second wave are near-silent as they bear witness to the arrival. They have been led by intimidating people before. They have been ordered around harshly by General Georgia. They have been sent into difficult battles by General Blackburn. They have been disciplined strongly by General Elliot. However, they have never seen anything like this. They feel as if the air in front of her bends. They feel as if the end of days has come. This is their supreme commander. This is Lara.
As she lifts a solitary finger they all step backwards, no idea what she will do. The crazed smile on Lara's face tell them all they need to know about her. She is insane, a maniac, a psychopath. That fear has been justified many times through history. Recently Uzumaki Boruto bore witness to Lara's temperament when she slaughtered thousands in an instant. That finger, it has enough power to kill them all.
This is the one general who can truly boast superiority over Clyde.
Her finger stops, pointing at a colonel who has worked with her previously. That colonel nods, knowing what Lara wants.
The colonel runs to a nearby chest while the captains remain as still as statues. They watch the colonel as she carefully rummages through the content of the chest. Eventually, she delicately removes a shot glass and a bottle. After closing the chest neatly, the colonel takes hold of both items and respectfully offers them to Lara.
Lara's attitude doesn't mirror this respect, with a strong swish of her hands, she snatches both the bottle and the shot glass before decanting the blood red liquid.
The captains are not the only ones who feel the change in the air. The colonels all feel it too, like all the oxygen in the world has been stolen away, like Lara is the only one the gods will allow to move. Even the generals feel it, Blackburn struggling to maintain his smile from before, Georgia dumbstruck by the presence, Elliot holding himself back despite the breach of protocol.
'Is that…' Georgia questions whether what she is thinking is possible.
Lara drinks from the glass before violently smashing it into the floor. The red stains her teeth, fills her mouth in the way that only one thing could. Something that they have all seen through their entire career.
'Blood' she realises, 'It's blood'.
"The blood of the fallen taste's so sweet, wouldn't you agree Martin" she says, a drip of red rolling from the corner of her mouth.
"Y… yes ma'am".
Clyde's former colonel has to force every word out of his mouth. Martin prays that he doesn't have to be with her a second longer than necessary. Not even his sister's presence is enough to make him feel safe.
She laughs at his reply, well aware of his anxiety. "And I can tell after just a moment, this world was born to be stained with blood".
'Clyde…' Lara thinks to herself, 'It's almost over, I've almost won'.
As Lara's crazed smile returns, she barely restrains herself from laughing like an excited child. She and Clyde have a lifetime of history. Their association so insignificant, their interactions so seldom, yet they always meet at the most important moments. Their names seem to travel through history together. Thought it appears this will be the last time.
Georgia gulps before forcing a smile to her face. "Thank you for coming Lara, this mission has been lacking someone with your vision".
The others would normally berate her, not now. Not at risk of interrupting Lara.
"I wouldn't want to miss this, my… rivalry with Clyde is almost over" she says, sneering at the borrowed term 'rival'. "Ever since our childhood, he has always been right on my heels".
Elliot had heard the stories of this rivalry, passed down through the ages. Many people liked Clyde's attitude, he was popular amongst his followers. They had described him as the one who could rival Lara, the one who could lead the military. Those who didn't sympathise with Clyde often gave a more balanced assessment. Clyde was less of a rival to Lara and more of an annoying insect she couldn't get rid of. To these people, Clyde held the military back and stopped Lara from making the military reach its full potential.
"While I scored some of the highest results in the academy's history, he was always just behind me" Lara explained, "He was always acting like he was on my level".
Lara knows the truth, just as Clyde does in his heart. She was always the prodigy, the genius who paved the way for new era of the military. He was just following in her wake, doing his best not to let her pull away from him. He could only follow so far and by the end of their training, Lara was by far the stronger of the two.
"I will enjoy giving him the most brutal of deaths".
"Uhm" Martin steps forward. He has experienced his former leader's power first hand. "General Lara, do you really think it will be that easy?".
Without even turning to look at him, Lara reaches her hand out to the side and grabs hold of his throat, lifting him off the ground. Martin feels a tight squeeze from his new leader and grabs hold of her arm to try and relieve the pressure.
As Lara surveys the landscape her followers notice that her sadistic smile is gone, replaced by a frown.
Martin looks to his sister, his eyes pleading her to help him. Georgia declines though. Despite caring greatly about her brother, she values her own health too, she casts her eyes to her feet, avoiding any association with the dispute. If she had to let Lara kill him to survive, she would be willing to do that.
Seconds pass before Lara smiles once again. "If you are doubting me then perhaps I should send a message to Clyde's group".
She releases Martin's throat.
As Martin gasps for air, Georgia runs to his side, making sure that he is OK. She is unsure of what caused Lara to spare him, perhaps something he said proved useful. Perhaps she wanted him alive to rub it in Clyde's face. Or perhaps her rage against Clyde is so overwhelming that she lost her interest in killing Martin.
"I can feel him" Lara says, closing her eyes and letting herself be one with nature, "He is hiding but I can feel that he is out there".
General Brooks has the looks of a teenager and the laid-back demeanour to match. While all others have panicked she has remained calm. She takes a few steps towards Lara, stroking her boss's ego as she does so.
"After many years Lara, you are truly going to prove that you are the number one general".
"That's never been in doubt" Lara laughs. "I just want to make him suffer for daring to try and follow me. I want to bathe this world in blood like none that have come before".
"He won't be able to stop you ma'am. Not how you are now".
"I suppose you are right" the supreme general shrugs. "I still want to make him feel fear though, as his last moments approach".
The looks of fear on the faces of the captains turn to awe as they feel Lara's power begin to rise.
After a few seconds a brilliant white cloak appears, clinging to her back. Even in this state her power surpasses a normal general.
Then, following that, the white begins to change, switching to gold. A shining gold brighter than they have ever seen before.
While she has heard about it before, Georgia has never felt Lara's power in person so close up. She had no idea when she requested her help. With Martin's plea for help, with Georgia's thirst for revenge, the siblings have unleashed a monster on this world.
Clyde's Headquarters
"I have more things I want to ask you, Clyde" says Naruto.
"Go ahead".
"I need to ask you about Dan. I want to know why he had to die. Why was he attacked first? Why would they attack children?".
The death of Dan was a traumatic incident for so many. For the children, they felt an enormous dread that may ruin their entire careers as shinobi. For Mirai, she felt a shattering of her confidence in her ability to defend herself. For Tsunade, she felt the person she loved leave this world forever. For Naruto, he felt his own helplessness.
"You speak as if attacking children is completely out of order for us" Clyde huffs, "However, that is not true, since coming here, I am ashamed to admit that we too have killed many children".
"Why was Dan killed!?" Naruto snaps.
"Your friend was killed by a man named General Elliot. Elliot is a man with very similar capabilities to my own". Both men are a rare breed, one of those freaks who understand what normal people never could, a transcendent element. "While he came up through our training academy years later than me, his reputation was similar to my own, if not greater".
Unlike Clyde, Elliot hadn't spent his younger years in the shadow of another. While Clyde was always chasing after Lara, Elliot had nobody he would chase after. He was the undisputed genius of that generation of the military. His genius was backed by an obsessive nature, a man who knew each and every rule and stuck to every one of them. It was because of this reliability that he was chosen as Lara's second-in-command.
"Is he just as strong as you?" Naruto asks.
"He also uses a transcendent element, he is also a general who stands above other generals. As to whether he is as strong as me, we shall see".
"Why was he here in the first place?".
"To confirm my betrayal. To confirm that I was merciful to your people by holding that contest".
Seldom could a head-to-head contest be offered as a way to avoid genocide and be described as merciful. That is just how outmatched the people of this world were and still are. The greatest warriors in its history gave everything and more just to survive.
"Our code dictates that the General should have killed you that day we first fought" Peterson explains, "Instead he proposed the contest to save my life. That was a betrayal of the rules, a capital offence".
"Elliot came here to confirm that one of my former colonels, Colonel Martin, had told him the truth" Clyde says, "Of course he had. The fact that he found you alive at all was enough to prove that".
"General Elliot came through the portal with General Georgia, Martin's sister". The new colonel, Dred, relays the events from his reports to Naruto. "They came here and were initially shocked by the strength you locals have amassed. That fight with your village's Dan likely opened his eyes".
"After they are finished executing us, their job will be to finish what we started" says Clyde, "But their discovery that I am a traitor has made things in this world… more serious".
"What do you mean, more serious?" Naruto asks.
"General Elliot is the deputy leader of our military, the second-in-command to its leader. However, he doesn't possess certainty of defeating me. Because of this, a string of generals has come to this world to try and assure their victory"
"And those generals are our problem too".
Clyde raises from his chair, taking a step towards Naruto. "If you and I were to work together, these generals would be no problem".
"Then why aren't we doing that? Are you refusing to help us after I spared you three years ago?".
"No, I'm happy for us to work together" Clyde says with a grim expression. "But it's not those generals that I'm worried about".
In an instant, everyone bar Hinata in Clyde's headquarters look the same direction. They look with wide eyes and wrinkled foreheads. It's a source of power. Power they have never felt before.
Naruto feels a shiver go down his spine. He looks onwards with an ominous curiosity. He can tell that this is what Clyde was speaking about just moments ago. This is not one of the generals the two of them could defeat easily. This is the one that Clyde is worried about.
The rebel general confirms it with two words that shakes everyone to their very core.
"… she's here".