BACK TO SCHOOL – RETURN TO SAFETY

Nears Mars' Home

Naruto sits eyes loosely in the direction the burst of flames came from. Nobody has said a word since it happened, not that he would have noticed if they had. He runs through the events that just happened in his mind, surely they are not possible. Thousands of people have been looking to him to save them from Furst, but he couldn't even do anything to stop Mars from killing Hinata. This can't be right, he doesn't believe that this could have happened. Everyone talked about him as if he was their saviour, as if he was unbeatable, how could they all be wrong?

"I'm going back for her," he says, his voice weak as he clambers back to his feet, "I may still be able to save her."

"No you're not," Ming Dai replies forcefully as he approaches Naruto, "She was engulfed in a ball of flames, she's dead!"

"You have no way of know that, perhaps some of the others arrived and started to help her. Perhaps someone else came to her aid. Perhaps Mars was fighting someone else when he used that attack."

"You know that didn't happen, there is no point in going back now."

"If she survived she will be on the brink of death," Naruto shouts into Dai's face, "If that's true then I'm the only one who can save her now. You know that's true, you have to let me try."

Dai feels less sympathetic for his sibling student every second. Naruto does have billions of people depending on him, countless individuals he has never met, most of the people he has met. Two people have died believing that today and if he goes back now to try and save someone who has already died, he will be the next one to die. That would be the ultimate disrespect, not just to Hinata, but to Sora, to Carmen and to all the others who have sacrificed themselves to get him this far.

"Naruto," Minato says.

"What!?"

"We need to face up to reality, the whole world is depending on you right now and-"

"And that makes it OK to abandon Hinata?" Naruto interrupts his father, "Is that what you're saying. Is that your opinion as the 4th Hokage, that we should abandon a loyal shinobi because she's probably dead?"

"I am the 4th Hokage Naruto, I am responsible for the people of the Hidden Leaf Village, but I'm sorry, she's gone," Minato tells his son, "But you have to stay strong now, you are responsible for the people of the Leaf just as I am, Hinata is just one person in-"

"She's more than that to me!"

"I know, but she's gone Naruto."

Kushina puts a hand on her son's shoulder, "Naruto, please, I know this hurts but arguing here isn't helping anyone. We need to go."

"Do you know who this isn't helping, Hinata," Naruto argues, "If you want to stop me from going back there then go ahead and do your worst."

"Dad, please wait," Himawari begins, "Mom would have-"

Himawari's voice is interrupted by a loud bang and a slightly rumbling of the air. She is astonished as she looks behind Naruto and sees a hand rebounding from the back of his neck. She traces the hands origin along it's owners arm all the way up to his head and she still questions what she is seeing. Ming Dai just struck his only friend.

As Dai's hand rebounds from Naruto's neck, the 7th Hokage loses consciousness, collapsing to the side into the grasp of the man who struck him. He almost looks at ease now, especially compared to just a moment before.

"What do you think you're doing?" Minato asks.

"Lok, I'm sorry, it's sad everyone, but Hinata is dead and there is nothing we can do about it now," Dai says, "But do you want to know what she was thinking about at the end, she was thinking about all of you. Her last thoughts were of you, and how she wanted you to survive. Right now I'm the only one focused on making that happen."

Himawari looks past Dai in the direction of Mars' home. If the mercenary was able to defeat Hinata that means his strength has recovered. Given Naruto's condition that means they have gone from having three class 7 warriors to just the one on their side. If Mars is in any condition to fight Dai may not be able to protect them from his wrath. The situation has been turned completely on it's head once again. They need to start prioritising survival as Dai says.

"OK, what do we do?" Himawari asks.

"This nation's royal will probably send the imperial guard to look for us. In time they will send many people stronger than us, many people more skilled than Mars who we cannot defeat, even with Naruto. In the mean time they will send whoever is closest after us, but even then defeating them won't be so easy."

"So, we hide?" Kushina suggests questioningly.

"Yes, we can take shelter at the nearest town," Dai says, "If we're lucky they will be able to shelter us from the imperial guard but I doubt it. Once Naruto has recovered we can work out a scheme to actually get away, we'll need his help."

"He's not going to be cooperative," Himawari reminds Dai, "You just knocked him out."

"We're running out of time here and none of you are helping me. We lost the headmaster today, you three lost a daughter-in-law, a mother, I don't want to lose anyone else. We'll talk Naruto around once we get there, first thing we need to do is get there."

Minato nods, "OK, let's go."

"If I remember the maps correctly it's this way."

Dai leads his group to the west but notices that on the journey they do not say a word. Each of them caught up in the memories of the past or anxious about the future. Hinata was the most important person in Naruto's life, how will he react when she is not there to talk to anymore. Is there anyone else who could ever understand him like she did, is there anyone who can support him in the same way? Is this the end of the Uzumaki Naruto they knew, will it change him like it did Hashirama and Boruto?

If Naruto wakes up a different man, Furst Jonas may never be defeated.

South-East of the Academy

There is a sombre attitude amongst the 'death' users, more sombre than usual. News has just arrived about the attack on the military academy. Thankfully there is no news of any shinobi deaths, it would appear to them that Headmaster Sora managed to sacrifice himself to save everyone else. Regardless, the situation is humbling. For Furst Jonas to have dominated his most powerful adversaries in such a manner is beyond what any of them feared.

"It was no great victory for us in the end, Headmaster Sora's death," Boruto says.

"Headmaster Sora was one of the strongest people of Homeworld, perhaps second only to the emperor himself," Tao Ma says cheerfully, "Our second most dangerous enemy has been eliminated, you can relax Boruto, its cause for celebration."

"That's not what's making us depressed Tao Ma," Hashirama explains, "Go on Boruto."

Boruto explains the problem. "Not only was Muto Sora a powerful adversary to us, he was also a powerful adversary to Furst. As much as I hate to admit it, he was a far greater threat to the empire than we are. Now our greatest chance to get rid of Furst is gone, we're going to have to do it ourselves."

"That's what we always planned for," Tao Ma says.

"But never what we hoped for," Boruto counters.

One of the many 'death' users approaches Boruto and takes him aside to speak with him.

Hashirama begins to speculate on what would be the right thing to do going forward now that they know just how strong Furst is. The people of Homeworld are all guilty as far as he is concerned for facilitating this invasion into his world, for never standing up to Furst while millions of unseen people in the pocket-worlds suffered, for Mito's death. What is his red line for working with homeworlders against Furst?

He tells himself that it's easy to draw the wrong conclusions about Headmaster Sora's self-sacrifice. It may appear to make him an honourable man, but where has he been for all these years, why haven't others stood up and done what he did. The truth, in his view, is that Sora didn't stand up for honourable reasons at all, he stood up because he wanted something. He finally decided to do something because he met Uzumaki Naruto, and he wanted to use the 7th Hokage. That makes sense to the Senju clansmen for even he admits that Naruto is a shinobi unlike any other he has ever met.

Then he hears the most terrible words, words that must haunt Naruto but are directed at Boruto.

"… Hinata was engulfed in flames," the 'death' user tells Boruto, "I'm sorry, your mother is dead."

Boruto takes a moment to steady himself but at first seems to take this well. He nods, taking deep breaths but remaining calm. Hashirama has seen people like this before, people who have become too accustomed to the death of loved ones, who learn to keep moving through the pain.

But then something clicks inside Boruto.

Boruto falls to the floor, grasping at his skull as he begins to cry out in pain.

"My head," he says, "It's my head!"

Nearby

ChouChou and Inojin walk behind the largest rock on the hill at the top of the moorland area they have been camping. Behind the stone Shikadai waits for them, just like he promised he would be.

"OK Shikadai, we're here, alone, what did you want to speak about?" ChouChou asks.

"Yeah, what is the big secret about it?" adds Inojin.

"I followed two of this lot on their patrol and I am even more suspicious now than I was before," Shikadai says, "The two of them didn't say a word to one another the entire time."

"That's not that suspicious is it, perhaps they were a married couple in the middle of a fight?"

"They didn't have rings."

"It may not be a tradition to wear rings in every pocket world," Inojin shrugs.

"I know, but it was suspicious," Shikadai insists, "They followed each other perfectly, checked all the right places. The whole journey without a single exchange of words, it was like following a pair of robots."

ChouChou sighs. She and Inojin have always followed his lead in many ways, despite his lack of his enthusiasm. What they believe in more than anything is his mind. When Shikadai draws a conclusion he is almost always correct and while they may question him, he always has an answer to their questions, and they always end up trusting him. She can sense that this time will be no different.

"OK, you're a smart guy Shikadai so I won't doubt your suspicion, but what do you actually think is wrong with them?"

"I don't know, I honestly can't put my finger on it," the Nara clansmen admits, "But there is something wrong with them, and we better work it out before it is too late."

"Do you think they have malicious intent?"

"Maybe, and if they do then the three of us will definitely be their first targets."

Nearby

Boruto continues to cradle his head as he jerks uncontrollably on the floor. Hashirama's attempts at administering some healing having been unsuccessful, the 1st Hokage stands back and asks himself what to do. Boruto has been overcome with his own energy before, is that happening again, if so only Naruto would be able to help him. That hasn't happened since Boruto learnt to control 'death' energy though, so what is this?

"Keep calm," Hashirama says quietly, "Try to control yourself Boruto."

Almost immediately after he says this, Boruto's screaming stops.

Various puzzled onlookers watch as the Shadow 9th Hokage gets to his feet.

"Are you OK?" Hashirama asks.

"I feel so, lucid, so much calmer," Boruto admits, "It's like… it doesn't hurt as much as it did before."

"It doesn't hurt as much?"

Boruto closes his eyes and holds his palms upwards, a picture of concentration. The onlookers go silent, whatever this is Boruto is doing it deliberately and they don't want to put him off. What changed within him during those few seconds?

Then, to their shock, 'death' energy begins to pour from his body, gathering around him like a floating aura. The 'death' energy calms, no longer vibrating it is perfectly still for a moment. Then that energy begins to reform more tightly around his body.

It is a divine 'death' cloak.

"I don't believe it, you've done it Boruto," Hashirama smiles.

Boruto opens his eyes and smiles slightly, he is in control of this energy.

"I never thought I would live to see the day," Tao Ma says, "The first ever class 7 pocket-worlder, you've done it Boruto!"

South of the Academy

"What are we supposed to do now?" Lara asks her companions, "I'm supposed to be the leader of this group but I don't have a clue."

Lara finds herself in this bizarre situation so completely detached from where she was just a short while ago. It wasn't long ago that she was the most feared fighter in the history of the military, that she was looking forward to her chance to kill Clyde and establish true dominance. Now the situation is reversed, she is a member of a rebellion fighting for freedom. She is the leader of the military but not the strongest in the rebellion, on the contrary, she's not even the strongest in her own group. It falls to her to make decisions yet she feels that they are of lower significance than ever before.

"There's nothing we can do," Elliot replies.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that even if we all maxed out our potential power there is no way forward for us from here. We need Naruto if we are to have any chance of taking on the royals. All we are now is a support act for a star that we cannot see."

Elliot's analysis is bleak but not dissimilar from the one Sarada's group made. This is a game of power, where the objective is to hide the most important player until he is ready to take on their enemy. That could be a long time yet and in that time they seem to have little option but to support him from a distance in any way they can.

"I agree," Clyde says, "All we can do is train for the final confrontation and support Naruto when that comes."

"We could look for him," Mirai suggests with a shrug, "We can make mischief for the empire, but other than that there is nothing."

"No!" Lara shouts.

This draws the attention of most of her generals and many of the others that have surrounded her. This is not the same Lara they remembered. The Lara they knew made decisions because nobody dared to argue with her, yet now she is taking the opinions of her subordinates. Now when she refutes her subordinates it seems less like a rebuke and more like a petulant cry from a child.

"No?" Clyde repeats her, "You have a better idea?"

"I don't have a better idea," Lara admits, "But I'm not just going to sit down and wait for things to get better. The military doesn't wait for things to improve, it will not do that while I'm in charge."

"Then what do you want?" Mirai asks.

"I made a vow that I was going to kill Furst Jonas. I watched him kill our teachers, our friends, I watched him destroy the place where I learnt to master my powers as a young woman, the place that made me who I am today. My resolve to kill him is even greater than it was before."

"And what do you expect us to do?" Clyde asks loudly.

"I expect you to help me!"

Mirai rolls her eyes, "Help you to do what? All we can do is look for Naruto and train. Don't go thinking I believe in this cause any less than you do Lara but I'm still going to face reality. Without Naruto, without Sarada, Boruto or Hashirama, without Hinata, we cannot defeat the empire. We have just lost all hope!"

Lara lowers her head. She indeed lost less hope than the others having only ever been close to two people both of whom she escaped with. Mirai and Clyde are different, they have lots of friends amongst the other groups. Mirai doesn't know if her grandparents survived. Clyde must surely be wondering if Naruto survived, given that all hope is being placed on the Uzumaki's shoulders.

"You two may have just lost all hope, I'm sorry about that, but I've got more hope than ever before," Lara says happily, "You remember those check marks in my room, the thousands of them on the walls for every time I defeated Clyde. All the time those check marks made me feel nothing, they made me miserable."

"You've changed," Clyde notes, "So what?"

"I drew two more marks since I returned," Lara explains, "I drew them for the two of you. Two marks for the two people I have come to care for, that I've come to…"

Lara's voice trails away, much to Clyde's frustration. He knows all too well what she wanted to say, he realised it not long ago.

"Go on, you can't even say it can you?" Clyde asks, "Because you're still afraid!"

"Clyde!" Mirai rebukes him.

"No, our world is scary Lara, you've only just joined it but don't act like that makes you special. We are all afraid of losing the people we love too, but only a coward refuses to tell them in the first place."

Lara averts her eyes. So, that is what Clyde thinks of her, a coward. She supposes that it's only natural, now that she knows how hard it is to care for people. Clyde has lived his entire life looking after his subordinates, caring for them. The 'darkness' using general could have killed Uzumaki Naruto right at the start if he had not been trying to save Colonel Peterson from the 7th Hokage. Compared to that what has Lara ever had to do to protect the people she cares about, what has she ever had to give up.

"If you think I'm a coward that's too bad," Lara says earnestly, "But I don't care what you think, those two check marks mean so much more to me than the thousands that came before."

Clyde is overcome by guilt, "Look Lara, I'm sorry I-"

"I need a few moments to myself," Lara interrupts him, "Because I'm a coward, I hope that doesn't offend you General Clyde."

Before Clyde can stop her, Lara has teleported away using her divine ability.

Clyde glances at Mirai.

"Don't worry Clyde, she may be scared to say her feelings aloud, but that doesn't mean they're not there," Mirai says, "She'll be back soon, we just need to give her a moment to calm down."

Clyde nods, there is little choice in the matter.

Nearby

Lara sits on one of the many rocks that litter the moorland area, cradling her head in her hands as she looks down at her feet. Using her left heel she creates two vertical lines in the grass, the two check marks that she drew back at the academy.

Mirai.

Clyde.

'I can't afford to be a coward now,' Lara tells herself, 'Not with these check marks.'

Suddenly, Lara feels something. A hint of divine energy, just a tiny hint, the sort of stray energy that one may notice every day of the week. This is different though, it is familiar to Lara and she instantly remembers who it belongs to. She remembers it from one of the most important days of her life.

That was the day she opened up to Mirai.

That was the day she opened up to Clyde.

That was the day she first felt this energy.

Lara immediately begins to use her teleportation to scout the surrounding area. Effectively moving at very rapid speeds it doesn't take her very long to find the owner of the energy.

She teleports to the source of the energy and looks at her from behind.

The girl she met that day.

The girl and the owl.

This is her daughter.

This is Hannah.

"Hello," Lara says, her voice shaking.

Hannah looks back over her shoulder at her mother before turning around.

Hannah smiles, "Hello."

Author Note

Hi All,

I'm sorry that I didn't upload a chapter yesterday. I'm afraid I needed to do some overtime at work.
The next chapter will be out on Friday assuming nothing goes wrong.

Thanks for your support as always,
Me