THE IMPERIAL PALACE – THE OLD NARUTO
To the South
Naruto continues to throw punches and kicks at his son, each of them blocked but each inching just a tiny bit closer to connecting with devastating power. Boruto feels a creeping terror each time their fists connect. He feels so much more pain than his father with each blow, he can feel the power behind the attacks tearing away at his muscles, he can tell that each impact is slightly stronger than the last. The attacks are no longer one-off moments of brilliance, they are perfectly calculated and timed. Both warriors have settled into a rhythm they feel most comfortable with and going all-out, that rhythm favours the father.
Sarada uses the unique powers of her rinnegan, transforming into her comet form to approach the duelling family members. Upon arriving at Naruto's side, she turns back to her human form and throws a 'creation' solar punch towards her enemy.
Naruto avoids the solar punch, putting his back to Boruto's chest and rolling parallel to him. He moves swiftly and cleverly, putting the shadow Hokage between the 7th and the 9th Hokages. They all immediately understand the logic, if Naruto keeps the three of them in a straight line using his superior speed, he will only have to fight one of them at a time. Using this logic, he throws his first attack from this new position, a violently rotating rasengan towards Boruto's chest.
Boruto manages to drop down beneath the violently spinning rasengan but is horrified as it sails over his head and instead hits Sarada instead. He realises what his father just did, there is no way he would have been able to dodge if Naruto had been going all out. Naruto had slowed down on purpose so that he would hit Sarada rather than Boruto. The shadow Hokage moves to respond to this, but the attack threw him off his game, his assessment of Naruto's speed lacks precision for a few key moments.
The rasengan released from the grip of his right hand, Naruto slams his elbow down towards the back of his son's head, simultaneously raising his knee into his face. A two-pronged attack towards his head, just as he had orchestrated against Naruto a few moments ago. The battle between family members continues down its violent path with no consideration about any long-term damage it may cause.
Sarada recovers from the rasengan and is greatly frustrated as she sees the attack delivered to her partner. Thanks to the rapid movements of her rinnegan, she is able to see that Naruto's muscles are starting to contract in very specific patterns. She foresees that he is going to roll back parallel to Boruto's chest once again. As the Hokage does so, she throws a deadly kick towards the spot that she predicts his head will finish.
The prediction proves to be incorrect, Naruto lowers his head slightly, raising his arm to throw the effectively one-legged Sarada off her balance. In the moment that both his opponents are at their most disorientated je flips, spinning through the air and this time putting Sarada between him and Boruto.
The 9th Hokage has no way to defend herself for the next few moments, but her master is ruthless nonetheless. He volleys her with repeated punches to the body, knowing that with each and every connection she will grow slightly more tired. He doesn't want this to turn into a battle of attrition but if that is what they are going to force upon him he has no intention of just rolling over and losing.
After the first ten punches Sarada finally manages to block one of Naruto's strikes, but he has gained momentum now and she fails to stop the following ten. Naruto keeps going, ignoring his depleting energy reserves and quickening breath as he lashes out.
When Boruto pulls himself together, he uses one of his own truth-seeking orb. He arches his back and kicks the ground, moving to the side just enough to see his father's his eyes around his fiancée's head. Swinging his arm out, he fires the orb around the far side of her head, watching as it moves towards the seemingly distracted Naruto.
However, he is not so distracted as he seems.
Stretching his arm calmly but quickly out to his side, Naruto catches the truth-seeking orb, manipulating it like it were one of his own. After an instant's struggle he has it under control and begins to use 'life' to change its very nature.
With the deadly energy at his disposal, Naruto mirrors Boruto's previous movements, stepping to the left and putting the three of them in a straight line once more. Then he drives it forward, firing the orb at the badly beaten Uchiha clanswoman.
'Move Sarada' he pleads in his head, 'Move and let Boruto take this hit'.
'I won't move' she tells herself, predicting his thoughts, 'It would be disgrace to you if I didn't take this head on'.
Sarada starts to create a Susano in an attempt to protect herself and Boruto but it is no use. As soon as the chakra projection begins to form, the all-powerful 'life' energy at the 7th Hokage's disposal smashes through the outer walls.
"Sarada!" Boruto calls out desperately.
Naruto drives the orb into Sarada's chest, not daring to hesitate in spite of his own sympathies. 'Don't go thinking I will hold back because you're my student. If you try to force this horrible fate on Tsunade, you are making yourself my enemy'.
As a nail in the coffin, Naruto uses the ball of energy to push Sarada backward, driving her into Boruto's arms and both of them to the ground.
"Now Naruto!" Kurama shouts eagerly, "Get to Tsunade before either of them recover".
Naruto rushes towards the 5th Hokage.
'I won't make it in time' Boruto realises as he tries to stop his and Sarada's backward momentum. 'What am I supposed to do…'.
Before Boruto can even begin to think of a plan, he sees the clear yellow hand of a Susano and feels it as it wraps around his ribcage. He looks at Sarada to see the clear pain and panic on her face as she tries to regain control of her movement, but even in that state she continues to think, to plan, to scheme. He smiles and reminds himself that Sarada is truly worthy of being called the Hokage.
Sarada uses the Susano to cast Boruto toward Tsunade like a dart.
Naruto gathers 'life' energy on his hand and as he gets close to Tsunade prepares to chase the 'death' energy away from her.
But he doesn't make it.
Just as Naruto is within touching distance of Tsunade, Boruto arrives moving at least twice as fast as him. His son spins skilfully in the air and lands a kick on his outstretched hand. As Boruto lands Naruto is delayed for just half a second, switching 'life' energy to his other hand and reaching for Tsunade once more.
But once again, he doesn't make it.
Boruto uses the momentum from Naruto's forward lunge to enhance the power of a kick to his chest. It winds the 7th Hokage as he is once more driven back away from the victim he is trying to protect.
Once again, the 9th generation team have stopped Naruto reaching his target.
Both Naruto and Sarada stay down for a couple of seconds before getting to their feet, the latter using her comet form to move back to Boruto's side.
"You realise what's happening, don't you Boruto?".
"Yes. We know his fighting style inside-out, we've seen it our entire lives, but he is still learning about us" Boruto concludes, "As this fight goes on, he's only going to get more and more effective, meaning that we can't keep this up for long".
"It doesn't matter" Sarada says through ragged breaths, "All we have to do is hold him off for a little bit longer, and I have the perfect technique to do that. All I need you to do is hold him off for a moment and we will win".
"That won't be a problem".
Boruto launches himself at his father at full speed, not concerned with what will happen in their tussle after he arrives, only concerned with Sarada's words. He believes in her, that if she says this technique will end things, she is right.
Sarada begins to use 'creation' energy to draw a series of shapes in the air before her, like an ancient form of writing. In reality, this is a language that only users of 'creation' would understand, a group that currently has only one known member.
"We will stop you here father" Boruto shouts as he arrives and attempts to punch his father's chest.
Shocking Boruto, Naruto grabs his fist just as it is about to connect. Seemingly, he has gained some form of clairvoyant insight.
"Your fighting style is just like mine when you're flustered, Boruto".
Using Boruto's arm, Naruto raises his son into the air and slams him painfully down into the ground. The impact is so solid that it leaves a small crater in the floor, a testament to the incredible might of the 7th Hokage and the equally incredible endurance of the 9th Hokage to survive it.
When Naruto looks away from Boruto and back towards Sarada, he bears witness to her new technique.
An enormous cubic structure is forming around Sarada. Dozens of moving parts scatter in all sorts of directions, each parallel to the cube's edges. These moving parts appear to be fragments of walls, all with razor sharp edges, each rock-hard and at a first glance impenetrable, even for someone as strong as him. He understands very quickly that Sarada's technique is ideal for this situation.
It's an omni-directional labyrinth.
It's a death trap.
"What on earth is that?" Kurama asks.
As Naruto looks on at the labyrinth, his thoughts are interrupted by the laughs of his son.
"You can't get into the middle of that father, nobody could, you know that it's a death trap" he announces, "It looks like Sarada and I have beaten you this time".
It's always a bold proclamation when someone claims that they have beaten Uzumaki Naruto, but it seems this time to be true. No matter what angle one approaches from, they are going to have to slip through a tiny gap, between surfaces moving incredibly fast with edges that could cut you in half. To advance through that would be crazy. Normally a self-preservation technique, it is now a method that is sure to stop anyone reaching Tsunade.
But Naruto just clenches his fist and walks forward.
"What are you doing Naruto?" Kurama shouts.
"Are you crazy!" Boruto asks. "You can't go through that, you will die".
"I can't turn back, I will never give up".
"Why? Why do you keep to that stupid mantra?" Boruto rants, "Why do you hold onto a way of life that so is blatantly harmful to you".
"… when I find out, I will let you know".
To the North
The battlefield now completely split into two halves, it would be better described as a slaughter than as a fight now. Captains continue to be cut down as the forces of 'death' tear through the military half. The other half is where the shinobi have been isolated and captured. They stand enshrouded by a shield of pure 'death' sustained dozens of warriors loyal to Hashirama. A barrier so power that none of them can escape.
"Do you not understand that your way is futile, that you must forgive to move forward in life" Hiruzen asks the nearest of the shield's creators, "If you forget how to forgive, the element of 'death' will consume you and you will continue to spread hatred like a disease. Eventually, there will only be one survivor left, one true master of 'death', are you willing to bet on that being you?".
The man replies by staring vacantly at Hiruzen, his gaze as empty as the message he receives.
"They're not even listening to him" Biwako says with a shake of her head.
"It's not surprising given their history" Choji responds.
"But don't they realise that he is right? That they are going to destroy themselves in the end?".
"They probably don't have it in them to understand that anymore. I think these guys may have been too weak to maintain the self-control Boruto and Hashirama have".
Shikamaru and Ino approach, joining Choji, Biwako and the 3rd Hokage at the edge of the shield. The flustered look on their faces a signal of how desperate the situation has become. Each second they fail to come up with a solution more and more people are dying. Eventually the more powerful members of the military will begin to fall and any chance they have of defeating Furst will die with them.
"Any luck talking some sense into them Lord 3rd?".
Hiruzen turns on the spot and replies with a raised voice. "No luck. There is no reasoning with these fools anymore. They're not determined, they're indoctrinated. They're military efficiency comes from brainwashing, not skill".
"We were the victims of this sort of military efficiency before. This is how Clyde once made us feel. We once felt like we had no chance of survival. I don't think that's a coincidence, do you?".
Before Hiruzen can contemplate any further, a trio of space-time events occur between him and Shikamaru and the number of Circle members present vastly increases. Minato, Tobirama and Kakashi all arrive in an instant, ready to urgently state the results of their attempts to escape.
"Have you found a way out" Shikamaru asks.
"The flying thunder god technique cannot be used to pass through the barrier" Tobirama answers, "It seems to interfere with spacetime itself".
"And your technique Lord 6th?".
"I can get through the barrier but my spacetime technique won't be any good for organising an escape" Kakashi explains, "I couldn't get people away from this spot quickly in large numbers like we would require".
Ino turns and looks as the battle between the military and forces of 'death' wage on. She tugs at Shikamaru's shoulder.
"Shikamaru, they'll be done for if we don't help them soon, we need to think of a plan before…".
"I know!" Shikamaru shouts, losing his temper.
Everyone goes quiet as Shikamaru rests his temple in his hands and furiously scratches the top of his head. He removes his hands before pacing back and forward, his mind moving as quickly as it can. Of course this situation is difficult to overcome, there is a master plotter on the other side to, a tactical genius who likely engineered this situation. This plan may have been passed of as Hashirama's, but it likely came from Shikadai originally.
Shikamaru stops with a single suggestion for their salvation.
"Mirai!" he shouts, beckoning her over. "The best plan I can come up with revolves around you".
"Me?" she asks as she runs over.
Shikamaru nods. "In here only you have the raw power necessary to put a dent in this barrier".
"I… I don't think I could…".
Shikamaru grabs Mirai by the shoulders. "Trust me, you can take down Sarada when you set your mind to it, you can break this barrier too. We don't have time for self-doubt, so just trust in my judgement, OK?".
Mirai nods. "OK, I can probably create a small hole in the barrier for a second or two".
"That will be plenty of time" Shikamaru says, now turning to the 4th Hokage. "Lord 4th, the moment Mirai creates a gap in the barrier the spacetime interference should go as well. You need to teleport away and come back with Naruto".
"That may not be good enough Shikamaru" Minato explains, "My teleportation range isn't infinite, it will take a while to bring Naruto back and…".
"We don't have a choice!" Shikamaru raises his voice again. "If we let the odds play out, all of our allies will die. All we can do is pray for a miracle, so if you have a better plan, let me know!".
They all go silent. Shikamaru is never like this, he's usually so calm and collected even in bad situations, but this ongoing struggle has really changed him. It's changed them all, they have long since passed their limits. They have struggled for years for survival but have yet to achieve a true victory. That can't go any longer.
This time they have to win!
There is no choice!
"We have to hope" Shikamaru says, "It's all we've had for a long time and it's all we have again".
Hinata steps forward, drawing the attention of the group. All of them are depending on her fiancé to fix this situation, and that dependency and hope has now started to wear on them. Naruto overcame the fear of that dependency before coming to this world, now it is their turn to do so. Perhaps the greatest authority on that subject is Hinata herself.
"This is the reason Naruto has kept going all this time, even if he has forgotten it" Hinata says. "Naruto has kept going because there was hope. He wouldn't give up in this situation, so we can't give up either".
Shikamaru turns to Minato who replies with a nod.
"Mirai, whenever you're ready".
Mirai concentrates, raising both her hands and pointing them at the barrier. She exercises the techniques she and her grandfather discovered during an accident in training and suddenly thousands of tiny explosions start to detonate in her hand. Divine energy beyond what should be possible in her situation gathers, shifting along her arms and from her hands to the tips of her fingers.
"Lord 2nd, Lord 6th, get everyone back, protect them" she requests.
The Hokage do just that, bringing everyone to one side of the shield, leaving Mirai standing alone with Lord 4th in the middle, a huge empty space before her.
"Lord 4th, this will only give you a moment to escape. Please bring Naruto back!".
"… you have my word".
With a roar of power and explosiveness, Mirai creates a single enormous detonation. She takes great care with her concentrated attack, pinpointing as much energy as she can on a single spot in the 'death' shield. 'Wind' and fire mix in a deafening explosion. The heat is extraordinary, almost hotter than Minato can stand without the protection of divine energy. He realises that Mirai's call for the other Hokage to protect the other shinobi was not bluster and overconfidence. The military leader of the Hidden Leaf's power is for real.
As the explosion and the 'death' shield clash, there is a fraction of a second where a tiny gap appears in the barrier. Spacetime fixes itself for an instant and in that instant Minato executes the most perfectly timed teleportation of his entire life.
It's quicker than the majority of shinobi can see, but the Hokage all notice.
They see it for a split second, Minato is on the outside.
Minato throws his marked kunai as far to the south as he can before teleporting to it, safely away from the battlefield and the warriors maintaining the shield. He move south as quickly as he can, hoping to bring their salvation back with him.
To the South
From inside the labyrinth Sarada watches Naruto's every move with her rinnegan. Being able to see him is not a blessing, it's a curse. To see every movement, every scrape with death he has, it is no pleasure even to someone who has declared herself his enemy. One can never overlook the path he created for people like her, people who thought it was impossible for them to become Hokage. He is a trailblazer, a great leader, and her own teacher. Yet, she watches his scrape with death, perhaps one final respect paid to him.
"You're crazy Sarada… you know that" Tsunade's voice comes from beside her, "You know that he… he will try to come through… are you really OK with… with being the one who killed Uzumaki Naruto?".
Sarada doesn't even turn to look at Tsunade, but a single bead of sweat runs down her head. That is really what she is doing with this technique isn't it? She's quite likely going to be the one who kills Uzumaki Naruto. She will have to live with that pain forever.
On the outside, Naruto watches as several of the razor-sharp surfaces fly past him at tremendous speeds. He waits for the perfect timing before punching one of them as hard as he can.
He shakes his limp-wristed hand after it rebounds from the collision with the surface, his previous assumption was right, it's not just sharp, whatever this material is its rock hard. Sarada clearly chose this material very wisely. He winces and shakes his head, he is really going to risk his life by going into this thing?
But he most move forward, Tsunade is in there.
"It was nice knowing you, Kurama" he says.
"Naruto don't!'.
Naruto ignores Kurama, jumping head first into the labyrinth, avoiding the first two surfaces that come flying past him. The second he comes to a halt he notes that two more are coming toward him, one from each side. He leaps upwards to avoid these, only to find another surface cutting across him, forcing him to spin to avoid certain death. He lands again, having moved less than a tenth of the way to the safe core of the labyrinth and repeats this process three times until an opening appears.
The second an opening to move forward appears he quickly weaves to the right before twisting to the left, another two steps, will progress continue to be that slow or is he lucky to be going so fast as he is.
Naruto stalls for time, looking for another opportunity to get closer to the centre, but then he is struck for the first time. Then a second time. He makes another step toward the centre before being cut a third time. He realises now that the closer he gets to the centre of the labyrinth the faster the surfaces are moving, the more dangerous the situation he is in.
Regardless, he presses on, doing his best to endure the many hits he takes. After a whole five minutes of enduring the constant pain of being hit, he is only one step away from the centre. With all the dexterity he can muster, he manages to get through, narrowly avoiding what would likely have been a fatal collision by the skin of his teeth.
He has made it to the centre.
Sarada stares at Naruto, mouth agape in astonishment.
However, Naruto collapses instantly.
Sarada does nothing, just watches him.
Naruto on the other hand, despite all the damage he has taken, begins to force himself to his feet. Through his own blood, sweat and tears, he manages to stand and take the first, very slow step towards Tsunade. This is not the walk of a powerful warrior, he is limping like an exhausted veteran of a thousand battles. He just takes one very slow step after another, complete ignoring Sarada's presence and pressing forward.
Tsunade cannot watch, craning her neck to look away as Naruto presses towards her. He is in a worse state to many patients she has tended to on the battlefield. This is beyond what anyone should have to endure. At the forefront of her mind, she knows that he is doing this for her, but that is why she cannot watch. She cannot bear the thought that all this is her fault.
Sarada watches as Naruto limps past her.
"Why do you do it master?" she asks. "Why do you keep going? What do you hope to achieve? Don't you realise that by refusing to ever give up, you are making enemies of the very people you want to save".
Naruto stops in his tracks, not because of the pain, but because of the words of his student. Did he really not realise that what she is saying is true?
"… I know that" he answers, "I realise that a long time ago. I know that my ideals are my own worst enemy, I realise that they hold me back".
Sarada watches him, wondering if this is the moment that she has been waiting for her entire life. Since she was a little girl she has admired Naruto, she strove to emulate him, to become a Hokage just like him, to surpass him. She idolised him along with many other people, but they all had something in common, they never truly understood him. Is she going to be the first person to understand the man who went on to become the greatest Hokage?
"But, my ideals represent something deep within me, something I've had since I was a kid desperately seeking attention. My ideals represent hope".
Naruto continues to limp forward, leaving Sarada standing there.
"Hope?" she asks.
Is that it? Is hope the only driving force behind this man?
"I may lose everything else that I have. I may end up without a friend in the world. Even then, that hope that will always be with me. It's something that can never be taken away, no matter what".
Finally reaching Tsunade, Naruto rests his hand on her shoulder and uses 'life' to chase the 'death' energy away from her body.
He has finally done it!
Sarada observes. 'He is using 'life' to remove 'death' from her body. No, not just her body, from the surroundings too. 'Life' is taking hold of the battlefield!'.
As his element takes hold of the battlefield, Naruto straightens his back and takes a deep breath of air. It feels to him like the first breath he has taken in years. That is something Sarada sees reflected in him just from watching, the worst of his wounds are slowly starting to heal and a flurry of divine energy is beginning to build up in his core.
Naruto holds out his hand and 'life' energy begins to pour into it from the surroundings.
Sarada has seen this technique before. She creates a miniature Indra Arrow in her hand, enhances it with her element and launches it at her teacher.
An orb of pure mighty energy forms in Naruto's hand.
"Life-gathering rasengan!".
He turns and slams the powerful attack into the incoming Indra-Arrow.
Naruto pushes the life-gathering rasengan straight through the Indra-Arrow, demolishing before relinquishing control over it. The rasengan launches past Sarada's shoulder, flying without any control whatsoever, and smashes into the labyrinth that she created. Naruto's advantage instantly becomes so great that the labyrinth itself is destroyed with that single attack.
With the labyrinth destroyed, Boruto runs to his fiancée's side and gasps. He believed that she had dismantled the labyrinth by choice. He never believed for a second that it was possible his father could have destroyed it.
The situation is worse though, he knows that as soon as he looks at his father, there is a substance behind his eyes he hasn't seen in a long time.
This is the old Naruto!
"Boruto, Sarada, I can see into my own soul now. I can see the eternal hope that I felt so many years ago" he tells them. "You can try to beat me down, you can try to make me give up for a thousand years, but I won't. It's because of that eternal hope, it will never extinguish".
Sarada bows her head and smiles. "It seems that your resolve has returned. I admit that I haven't seen you like this since before Hashirama betrayed you".
"It doesn't matter" Boruto adds, "In your current state moving North past us will be practically impossible. Sarada and I can easily…".
Boruto manages to dodge an incoming kick at the last second. He only just has time to see the incoming foot and dodge it, he questions how that is possible. There is no way that Naruto could have moved that fast is there? No, not even with his former resolve returned? There is only one person who could have gotten so close with an attack.
His fears are confirmed as he is forced to jump backward once again, this time to avoid a solar punch.
Sarada has turned on him!
"Sarada?" Naruto asks questioningly.
"Go!" she shouts, smiling to her teacher. "Head north as quickly as you can. I will hold Boruto here".
Naruto doesn't hesitate, dashing north as quickly as he can and entrusting Sarada with everything here. It may seem like a risk to leave Tsunade's fate to her given everything that just happened, many would be weary of a potential ploy here. Naruto would have struggled to trust Sarada just ten minutes ago, but not now, not now that he has regained his former self. One look was enough for him to tell that Sarada was sincere.
"Sarada, what are you doing?" Boruto asks.
"Boruto, unlike you I have yet to lose faith in that eternal hope he speaks of" she replies. "I will hold you here".
"And my father?".
Sarada points at Boruto.
"He is going to show you why we all still believe in him".
Naruto moves to the north.
Naruto moves towards his destiny.
Naruto moves towards his third battle with Hashirama.