THE FOUNDRY – THE CRYSTAL CAVES
Near the Fayoth-Cheqitori Border
The woman atop the hill watches the warriors below to see their reactions to her words. Nobody reacts particularly strongly; they are clearly surprised to be here, but they are maintaining their composure. Some are even thinking of ways to escape this predicament and examining her for weaknesses. She is pleased with this haul, they all seem to be highly competent, just what she was looking for.
However, she spots two unusual individuals in the group, they appear to be father and son. They are each wearing the same distinctive head protector, something not often seen in Homeworld. She is doubtful that there are two such powerful warriors who wear that same insignia. She guesses that these two may be some of the people who came from the pocket-world. It is of no consequence; it is not up to her to judge those who have arrived.
"My name is Enri," the old woman announces, "I brought you here. As you have probably guessed, that took a lot of power, so there can only be one logical conclusion. I am a class 9 warrior."
Boruto and Naruto were each examining Enri as she made that claim, neither believes from her body language that she was lying. Still, while it confirms their previous assertions it is still a shock. Class 9, that is the level of the royals, of the most powerful people in the world, of Headmaster Sora and the previous emperor. Outside of that group they were not aware of any other class 9s. They each conclude separately that she must be some hidden expert who has spent years in seclusion.
"There aren't many class 9 warriors," Boruto remarks.
"No there are not," Naruto replies quickly, "Just who is she?"
Enri smiles at their reactions to her proclamation of power, none of them are shocked. Those who she brought here each judged her accurately, that is further good news, an endorsement of each of them. She needs these people to be strong. If these people are not strong then her greatest ambition will never be realised, she would die a failure.
Enri brings a brilliant yellow energy to her hand. She toys around with it, demonstrating the power she wields. Normal warriors would be amazed by the power, but these ones have spotted something beyond that. They all marvel at her control, she controls her power with precision and accuracy, manipulating it like a well-practiced puppet master. The Uzumakis have seen this level of control recently, they saw it wielded by Petra. This is the difference between them and the most powerful people in the world, this mastery.
"This is my element," Enri announces, "I am the one and only master of 'fate' energy. Applied correctly this energy can make you the luckiest person in the world. Applied correctly, this can take the element of chance out of any scenario."
Naruto knows the difference that chance can make in a battle. The direction of the wind, the quality of supplies, the effectiveness of an attack against an opponent, the individual confrontations when armies clash, each of these is influenced by luck. Each of these, should they go against you could turn your winning strategy into a winning one.
Enri smiles, "Some of you may have heard about the recent rebellion of the War Council. Yuuki Terukatsu declared war on the empire! That is why now is the perfect time for a second master of 'fate'."
That sends murmurs around the various warriors she summoned. It seems that the opportunity to master such a power is very popular. Why wouldn't it be, clearly from Enri's class 9 power, 'fate' is a double-transcendent element. The uses for such a power are immeasurable as well. It is the ultimate opportunity for any warrior.
"It is 'fate' that brought you all here. I have the power to summon people from far away, but I have to know the feel of someone's divine energy to summon them, otherwise I could be summoning people at random. You were not chosen at random; you were chosen by 'fate'. 'Fate' chose you and then I brought you here."
Naruto believes that is somewhat encouraging. Boruto feels relief though, he has always had faith in his father. Speaking with Naruto's peers made Boruto realise how impressive his father is a long time ago. Anyone with eyes could see that Naruto was destined for greatness. Reality got in his way again and again but the 7th Hokage refused to back down and would rise to every challenge. If it was 'fate' that brought him here, then surely, he is destined to succeed.
These thoughts go through everyone's mind, not just Boruto's. None of them realise the paths the others have taken to get here. Every person present has a story to tell, each of them have overcome long odds, survived when they should have died, and surpassed their limits to get here. If someone were to chronicle the lives of all those who were chosen, it would not be a surprise that they were selected. These are the people who 'fate' has been with through their entire lives, they are the chosen ones.
"Below our feet are the crystal caves, an inescapable network of tunnels. They run deep and meet one another often. It is a maze from which escape is almost impossible. That is why the crystals here are not mined. It was once said that nobody who falls into the crystal caves escapes, but that changed one day when someone escaped for the very fast time. That someone was me. I am the only one who has ever escaped the crystal caves."
Silence.
Those are not good odds.
"If anyone wishes to back out, I will let them go without harming them," Enri explains, "But if anyone enters the crystal caves, should they emerge again I will name them my student. If you wish to leave do so now, this is your last chance."
Enri's offer is kind, but nobody backs out. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and everyone present is convinced that destiny chose them from birth. They cannot let this chance go by.
"Very well."
Enri activates her golden 'fate' cloak. She stamps her foot into the floor, hard. It sends shockwaves through the surrounding area, shifting rock on a massive scale, creating a deafening noise. Now it is clear how Enri intended for them to enter the crystal caves. She is collapsing the floor beneath them. She intends to bury them deep beneath ground. It seems that the first element of this test is whether 'fate' will choose for you to survive the fall.
Naruto quickly grabs hold of Boruto's wrist, wrapping his fingers tightly around his son's arm. The Shadow 9th Hokage sees what his father is thinking and does the same. They hold on tightly to each other, they hold on for their life. Neither of them can bear the idea that the other will not survive the fall.
The floor falls out beneath them.
They fall deep underground.
They tumble through the complex network of caves.
2 hours later
Naruto's eyes snap open. He instantly begins coughing, emptying the lungs of the dust that he accumulated during his lapse in consciousness. There is a tremendous weight on top of him, but he can still feel Boruto's wrist in his hand. His first concern is his son's health, but thankfully he can feel a pulse. They have both survived the fall, even if they are a bit worse for wear.
Naruto funnels 'life' energy through his hand into Boruto's body. He continues to do this for a solid two minutes before he hears his son awaken, coughing as he did before.
Once Naruto is happy that his son's life is not in danger, he uses his tremendous power to clear the rocks that have fallen onto the two of them. He smashes them into the wall, shattering them into tiny pieces. There isn't much room in this section of the crystal cave, but it at least gives them some breathing room.
"I thought you would never wake up!" Kurama grumbles.
"Looks like I'm not dead yet," Naruto replies.
"Hey, can you see anything?"
Kurama is right to be alarmed. It is not Naruto's eyes that are failing him, no light reaches this far into the crystal cave. The shinobi scratches one of the walls with his kunai to prove it, the spark momentarily illuminating the complex network of caves. Seeing in this place is almost impossible, that is a large part of the challenge in escaping. It is no wonder that nobody who fell into the depths escaped prior to Enri.
Naruto uses the One True Sense to gauge his surroundings. He rebalances them as Carmen once did and as Nina taught him. His sense of hearing is particularly useful in this scenario, so he prioritises that. Through this combination of sensory inputs he can get a rough idea of his surroundings.
"Boruto, can you see anything?"
Boruto activates his tenseigan.
"I can barely see a foot in front of my face, but it's enough to move around. If you take the lead, I can follow the sound of your footsteps."
Naruto nods. He moves his head around as if looking for an escape. There are tunnels in every direction, some on a positive incline, some on a negative. There is no telling whether they will maintain this incline, whether they will take them in the right direction. Escaping from this place is clearly a fool's errand.
"You got any ideas on how to escape this place?" Naruto asks.
"Not a clue."
Boruto can practically hear his father rolling his eyes. In this moment they each come to understand their own vanity. They came down hear foolishly, thinking they were special they risked their lives and the entire rebellion because they wanted more power.
"We shouldn't have come down here," Boruto realises.
Naruto initially agrees, but then he rebukes himself.
"Never give up, that has always been my ninja way," Naruto says. "On our current trajectory, we were limited by our pocket-worlder background, at most we could have become class 8 warriors. If we were ever going to reach class 9 we had to try and learn another double-transcendent element. We had to come down here Boruto. If there was even a small chance that destiny chose us, we had to take it."
Naruto can hear Boruto nodding. It gives him a moment's relief to be back on the same side as his son. He hasn't felt like they've been fighting together for some time now. They haven't felt like a unit since the last match in the captained-six contest. When Boruto insisted they kill Clyde and his followers Naruto chose another path. Although the 7th Hokage didn't realise it at the time, that was the day they became enemies, the day their paths most truly diverged.
"Let's follow this tunnel, it goes upwards," Naruto says.
So that's what they do. They continue to run the length of the tunnel, often tripping over rocks due to the sensory deprivation. If it weren't for Naruto's element, they would both end up severely bruised. They continue on this precarious course for two hours straight, running as fast as they can even as class 7 warriors. For all this time they spend travelling without water and food their efforts are not rewarded.
After two hours they come to a dead end!
"What do we do now?" Boruto asks as he places his hand on the wall.
Naruto groans. Using 'life' energy he could probably survive much longer than a normal warrior without food and water, but Boruto is different. Boruto's body is corrupted with 'death' energy, if Naruto's thinking is right then Boruto might be suffering through this worse than the average fighter.
They do not have time to waste two hours getting back to wear they started and another two hours taking another route. There are two many paths. Basic mathematics says that without a bit of good luck they are going to die.
There is only one way to proceed.
"We'll have to tunnel out ourselves," Naruto says.
Boruto agrees, there is no time for any other route. They summon all the energy they have and begin to attack the wall. The crystals are durable, but they cannot endure a solid strike from two warriors of this calibre. Slowly but surely the wall begins to erode, and the cave grows larger. In their minds now this was never about fate, this was about creating their own fate.
Three Days Later
Boruto collapses.
Naruto rushes to his son's side and uses 'life' energy to help him. This is not working, even he is struggling now. Three days moving upwards and they seem no closer to escaping than when they started. As Boruto's breath returns to him Naruto tries to consider what to do, but three days without water is getting to him.
Neither of them can keep this up much longer.
"Never give up," Naruto gasps.
"Old man, please shut up!"
Naruto falls to the ground and laughs to himself. Above ground he was the great hope of the rebellion, the man that Muto Sora claimed would save Homeworld. Down here Naruto is nothing, just a mouse in a maze looking for a piece of cheese.
"We can't be tunnelling upwards," Boruto says.
"I agree, it's pointless to keep going."
"No, I mean we can't have been digging upwards so far. Think about it, we're on an incline of roughly 20 degrees, right? We have been going for 3 days, meaning 72 hours. Did you count how long we fell for?"
"I didn't count," Naruto admits, "But I know roughly how far we fell."
"Mathematics. I know it's not your strong point but I'm OK with numbers. If we had been tunnelling upwards all this time, we would have been at the surface yesterday. It's this cave dad, our senses are all mixed up."
Naruto doesn't check the maths himself, but he and Kurama agree that they can feel it in their bones. Boruto is right, they should be at the surface by now, the caves are messing up their perspective.
This is probably why nobody has escaped before. Homeworld is an ancient land, countless people must have fallen into these caves. By the laws of probability some people should have escaped by guessing the right upward paths. Even if there were a million paths one lucky soul would escape eventually, but Enri is the only one and she did it by relying on fate. The caves must have a secret to them, and it must be that sensory confusion.
It is quite possible that they should have been taking one of the descending paths all this time.
Naruto returns to Boruto's side and puts his arm around his son's shoulders. It doesn't look like they'll be getting out of here, but he is happy that this is the way it all ends for him. He has been reunited with his son, that has been one of his greatest desires for years now. When he passes to the other side, he can honestly tell Sora and Akashi that he did everything he could.
"I know mother is dead," Boruto says.
"No."
"It's fine dad, I want to talk about it. Besides, I suspect we will be going to meet her soon."
"I didn't realise you knew about her death," Naruto chuckles to himself.
"What is so funny?"
"Boruto, your mother isn't dead. It's quite confusing but there are two souls in Hinata's body. One soul is Hyuuga Hinata. The other is Endou Hinata. That is why Hinata was so strong. Hinata is actually the real Empress of Homeworld. Her memories returned to her and she is alive."
"Moms alive?"
"Yeah, alive and well."
Boruto smiles to himself and closes his eyes. For a moment everything seems to be right with the world. For all the suffering and death that he has seen since Clyde invaded their pocket-world, everything finally seems OK. His parents are both alive, Himawari too. He even has his grandparents from the past in this time with him. If only they could get out of here it would all be great. It seems some things just aren't fated though.
"What do you mean she's the real empress?" Boruto asks.
"She has two souls. One is the daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi. The other is the daughter of Emperor Endou Akashi."
"So she… and I…"
Naruto laughs. "Yes, I guess that means that you're the Prince of Homeworld. You're probably the heir to the throne."
Boruto doesn't know what to make of that. In view of everything that he did it is a cruel irony. He sought to destroy Homeworld and everything that it stood for. He thought that everyone from this world should die. All that time he was the grandson of Homeworld's greatest champion. The people he was opposing were the ones his family swore to protect.
It all makes a lot of sense to him all of a sudden. This is why his mother is so strong. This is why they came to Homeworld, why they were the pocket-worlders that were able to fight back. This is why both he and Himawari are blessed with remarkable fighting talent. However, the pocket-world has another champion, one that leaves another question wide open. They didn't come to Homeworld because of Hinata's power, they came here because of Naruto's. Naruto is the true power behind the Hidden Leaf Village.
"Dad, you are married to the true Empress of Homeworld," Boruto says.
"Well the empress doesn't like me much, but I suppose I am. So?"
"Doesn't it strike you as a bit of a coincidence?"
Naruto smirks. "No, it strikes me as fate."
Just as Naruto says that part of their tunnel collapses. It reveals another tunnel, one running parallel to the one they have created. As the wall collapses a small stone drops from above them revealing an enormous crystal. This crystal happens to align perfectly with a series of crystals along the parallel tunnel. Within a second, everything has fallen perfectly into place and the crystals reflective surface acts as a beacon of hope for them.
It is light from the surface!
The light from the surface is reflecting off the crystals, highlighting a route for them to follow. Choosing the right path was one in a million. The right path being revealed like this was surely a one in a trillion chance.
Neither Naruto nor Boruto believe in such random luck.
Each of them experiences a familiar sensation in their inner world. Another stone tablet has appeared, Naruto's next to his 'life' tablet, Boruto's next to his 'death' tablet. They can tell what is happening to one is happening to the other as they are each surrounded in the same coloured energy. This is a new energy, not yet mastered to the same degree as 'life' and 'death' but under their control, nonetheless.
They each have a new stone tablet in their inner world.
They each have a stone tablet engraved 'fate'.
They know now that things were always meant to happen this way.
Naruto and Boruto have understood the first level of 'fate' energy.
Battle Classes in this Chapter (At the End)
Uzumaki Naruto (7) = Life (2) + Transcendent (2) + Shinobi (3) - Also has tier 1 fate understanding
Uzumaki Boruto (7) = Death (2) + Transcendent (2) + Shinobi (3) - Also has tier 1 fate understanding
Enri (9) = Fate (3) + Transcendent (2) + Manual (3) + Divine Ability (1)
In Response to Engineer's Question
About the limits of Petra's Control
Good question.
From a writer's perspective it's largely plot convenience.
In world it's easy for Petra to control movement, it's less easy for her to control a person's mind and therefore make confessions.
It would have been harder for Petra to interrogate Naruto than it was to interrogate Carmen.
Sorry that it's not a great answer.
On the other subject, the stronger the opponent the harder they are for Petra to control
Petra would struggle to control class 8s, it would be almost impossible to control class 9s.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Krosenko's Question
About Enri's identity
I couldn't possibly say without giving away spoilers.
Thanks for reading.