Chapter 6:

"I can't believe that jerk. What's wrong with him?"

Chocho continued to comfort Sarada after his personal verbal assault though she didn't seem as hurt as she was at the restaurant.

"If Boruto hadn't beaten me to it, I would have clobbered him good," Chocho announced, still angry. "How dare he speak that way to a lady. And to make it so personal like that."

"He's never done that before," Sarada admitted. "Something's up. Boruto, what did you do?"

Boruto spun around in the midst of pacing and muttering about Mitsuki to gape at her. "Me?!"

"Did you say something to get him upset? Did something happen between you two?"

"Why are you assuming it's my fault? You were with us all day. Did it look like anything happened?"

"I turned my back a couple times."

"I didn't do anything! I don't know why he's like this. He was fine this morning. Why do you think it was something I did?"

"Because he said he hated you."

"I didn't do anything!" Boruto insisted, throwing his hands in the air. "I don't know why he's so pissed off. It wasn't my fault."

Chocho scoffed, thinking about Mitsuki's behavior. "He doesn't deserve my chocolate. I regret ever giving it to him. Still, I wonder why he isn't all lovey-dovey like I expected him to be."

Boruto looked at her. "Why would he be lovey-dovey? Just because you gave him chocolate?"

"Well, my chocolate gift was special. I mixed it with a love potion."

"You what?" Boruto and Sarada said at once.

"Yeah. I added a love potion to the chocolate I gave him."

Boruto was skeptical. "Does such a thing actually exist? It would be cool if it did, but I don't know."

"Are you sure it's a love potion?" Sarada asked. "Where'd you get it?"

"I made it. It's not like I got it from a creepy old witch or something. Here, look." Chocho pulled out the book and bottle from her bag. She had marked the pages she used so it was easy to find her sources.

"A love potion, huh?" Sarada started going through the book, comparing the bottle of purple powder to the image in the book and the herb Chocho had gathered which she had left stuck between two pages.

"There's an actual love potion, for real?" Boruto leaned closer. "That book tells you how to make it?"

"Not exactly," explained Chocho. "I had to whip it up myself based on what I found in this book. It tells you about different plants and their properties. That bottle there is a ground up plant thought to be an aphrodisiac and I combined it with that plant there that's supposed to make the effects stronger. I mixed them together and added them to the chocolate I made here."

She took out a small box from her bag containing the chocolate.

"Now I'm glad you didn't give me one," said Boruto.

"I still don't understand why it didn't work." Chocho sighed. "I had it all planned out, too. But guys aren't falling at my feet like I expected."

Sarada's eyed widened, staring at the book. "Uh, Chocho, I don't think you did this right."

"Obviously, if it's not working," said Boruto.

"No, idiot, I mean she really didn't do it right."

They moved closer to look at the page Sarada was scanning. She held it up to show them along with the bottle and plant.

"Chocho, you weren't supposed to mix these with anything else."

"I didn't. I just mixed those two things."

"But then you added them to the chocolate mixture, right? That's mixing them with something else. The combination didn't result in a love potion."

"Aw, well, that sucks." Chocho sighed, disappointed.

Her nonchalant response didn't match the look of fear on Sarada's face. As soon as she realized things were more serious than a simple mistake resulting in a dud, her expression changed.

"Chocho, you didn't make a love potion. You made a love poison."

"Poison?" Chocho recoiled. "I poisoned them? But- but those things in the book aren't poisonous. Do they become poisonous when combined with chocolate or something?"

"Not exactly."

The book had limited information on these particular plants but Sarada was familiar with some of the facts after studying a herbology book.

Despite Inojin's parents owning a flower shop, he actually didn't have his mother's vast knowledge of flowers and needed help understanding certain plants, so Sarada took out a book on the subject to help him. She ended up learning a lot, probably more than Inojin. The book covered more than just flowers. It focused on herbs, too, and what ones should never be combined with certain things.

Normally consuming the plants Chocho had gathered wouldn't result in anything bad, but when she introduced them to ingredients not found or obtained easily in nature near their native habitat, it had some pretty interesting if not catastrophic results.

"Chocho, the ingredients you used in the chocolate shouldn't be combined with these two things here. They reacted to each other and resulted in a love poison. Based on this information and what I know about these things, instead of giving someone the feeling of being in love, the blend targets the feelings someone already has and corrupts them."

"In other words..?"

"In other words, it turns love to hate," Sarada explained. "That's what a love poison is. It takes someone's feelings of love and turns it into hate."

"So that's why Mitsuki is acting this way."

Boruto cringed. "Wait, so if it targets someone's love and turned it to hate then… Does that mean Mitsuki loves me? Gross."

"You moron, there are different kinds of love," Sarada told him. "You love your mom and sister but not romantically, right?"

"Well, yeah. Of course."

"Love can exist between siblings, parent and child, owner and pet, teammates, friends, and lovers. Not all those are romantic forms, though. But I don't think a love poison can tell the difference or cares. It targets love, any kind of love and turns it to hate."

"Then we've got to stop Mitsuki." Boruto punched his palm, getting serious. "We'll grab him and stop him before he can do more damage."

"And then what?" Sarada asked. "We have no idea how to fix this. Catching him won't matter if we don't have a cure. We should focus on getting a cure first. Otherwise, even if we do catch him, he could escape and then we'll have to catch him again and that would waste time."

"But while we're trying to figure out how to fix this, he could be doing who knows what in the village? It makes more sense to find him first then a cure, you know."

Chocho suddenly shrieked, cupping her hands to her face. "Oh, no! Inojin and Shikadai! I gave them chocolates, too!"

"Mitsuki's not the only one?"

"No. I gave it to them first."

"Who knows what they're doing?" asked Sarada.

Knowing Mitsuki wasn't the only one who consumed the love poison, it now made more sense to round up everyone who ate it and then worry about a cure. No good could come from several people in that state running loose in the village.

"Let's find those two and immobilize them," said Sarada, unintentionally siding with Boruto. "We can't have them running loose, doing who knows what."

Chocho's teammates were easy to find, walking side by side down a quiet street. Boruto leapt right into action with his clones, tackling and pinning the unsuspecting duo from above.

"Ow! Boruto, what are you doing?"

"Sit still, Shikadai. We'll help you out."

Shikadai twisted his body, trying to look at Boruto who was pressing his knees into Shikadai's back. "Help me? I was just fine until you dropped from the sky and tackled me. What's this about?"

Inojin writhed on the ground, trying to get his arms free from the two clones holding him down. "Why are you doing this? What's going on?"

"I know you two hate me right now, but we can fix that."

"You're damn right I hate you right now." Shikadai tried to buck him off his back. "What's your problem?"

"Just hold still."

POOF!

Shikadai vanished and reappeared a few feet away, using an escape jutsu. Boruto was able to pin him down but he neglected to secure his friend's hands. It was painful, but he managed to make the necessary hand signs to get away.

Boruto tried to grab Shikadai but found himself frozen in place, their shadows connected.

"Now," Shikadai began calmly, "what's this about? Why do you think I need you to tackle me to the ground to help me?"

"Because of the chocolate you ate," Boruto told him.

"What chocolate?"

"The one I gave you guys this morning," said Chocho, catching up with Sarada in tow. "Remember? The Valentine's chocolate."

"That?" Shikadai raised his brow. "I didn't eat it."

"You didn't?"

"No."

"Me neither," said Inojin, still pinned under the two clones. "I didn't really want it anyway."

"So… Wait, what?"

The clones vanished and the shadow holding Boruto shrank back. Now that everything was calm, the group tried to sort out all the details.

"You gave us a love potion?"

"Love poison, actually. My mistake."

Shikadai crossed his arms, glaring at his teammate. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because I was sick and tired of you two ignoring me. When a lady puts her heart into something she made by hand, she expects gratitude. And when she's told she'll be overlooked no matter what she does, it's understandable that she'd naturally try to get the attention she feels she deserves."

"By poisoning us?"

"I didn't know at the time!"

"How did you even make such a thing anyway?" Inojin asked.

Chocho showed them the book which Shikadai took to study more closely.

"Either way, I'm glad you guys didn't eat any of it," said Boruto. "So why don't you hand over the chocolate she gave you and we'll get rid of it before it can do any damage?

"I don't have it."

"Me neither."

"Where is it?"

Inojin gave them a frightened look and timidly said, "I gave it to my mom."

"You what?!"

"I didn't know and it seemed like a good idea at the time. Mom likes chocolate, so I left it on the table for her."

"You gave the chocolate gift I made for you to your mom?" Chocho growled. "You didn't even taste it? You just gave it away?"

"It's a good thing I didn't eat it, knowing what I know now!"

"Is this really the time to focus on that?" Sarada asked Chocho. "We've got to go get that chocolate. With any luck, she hasn't eaten it yet."

"And if she has…" Inojin shuttered, thinking of his mother in her worst moods. If that was how she looked when she loved him and merely lost her temper, he didn't want to know how scary she was when she hated someone.

The group raced to Inojin's house as fast as they could. Something stopped Inojin from opening the front door, petrified.

"What's wrong?"

Inojin gulped, sensing malice coming from inside. Moments later, they heard banging and yelling.

With Inojin too terrified to open the door, Boruto did it for him without knowing what to expect.

A vase came flying at his head from inside. He ducked and when he looked inside, he found Ino backed against the wall looking frightened. Sai had thrown the vase, aiming for her.

"Dad?"

"Have you lost it?" Ino asked, regaining some of her courage after the initial shock.

"The only thing I've lost is my self-respect. Gave that up when I married you."

"What did you say?" Ino took a step forward, outraged.

"Everything about you sickens me," Sai seethed through his teeth. "I can't even look at the color purple without thinking of you. Do you even own another color? Everything is purple with you! You look like a fat plum!"

"How dare you!"

"You never cover up! You show off your stomach and dress like a slut! A married mother should dress more conservatively, don't you think? Who are you trying to impress? Still looking to catch a man even now?!"

"Dad, stop!" Inojin shouted into the house from the front door. "You don't know what you're saying!"

The look on Sai's face was terrifying. He had never seen his father with such an expression. Such hatred. Such malice.

Sai grit his teeth, rubbing his arms with his hands. "Everything about you, even the thought of you, the sight of you makes me feel dirty, you wretch. You try so hard to make yourself beautiful because you know you can never attain it. Filth wearing makeup is still filth!"

The things he was saying and how he said them left Ino stuck between rage and shock. Sai had never spoken to her like this before. He had never done anything like this before. At any other time, she would have thrown a punch but at the moment she didn't know what to do. His words were so hateful and cut deeply.

"I can't stand you. You are nothing to me. I hate you!" Sai bent his knees and sprang into the air, launching himself at his wife. "I hate you, you horrible, hideous harpy!"

Boruto threw himself and two clones between them and tried to restrain Sai before he could hurt Ino. Sai slammed himself into the wall, successfully getting rid of the clone on his back. The other one he kicked off his leg and the third he grabbed by the neck and threw into the wall.

POOF!

Sai stared at the empty space in his hand and quickly spun to the right, elbowing Boruto in the chest as he tried to sneak up from behind.

"The same trick as your father," he seethed. "You're no different from him. You're just as irritating and predictable."

Ino watched Boruto and her husband fight in the hallway, still stunned by the whole ordeal. Then she shook herself and prepared to get involved in the battle.

"I'll stop his movements first." Ino raised her hands, preparing her jutsu.

"Mom, wait!" Inojin grabbed his mother's arm, pulling her hands down. "It's not his fault. He's been poisoned."

"Poison?" Ino was even more shocked and worried.

Boruto was thrown into the wall and quickly moved aside to avoid being punched. "He's right. Sai doesn't know what he's doing. He accidently ate a love poison." He jumped again, narrowly missing Sai's kick this time.

"What's this about a love poison?"

"It turns love to hate, Mom. Basically, the more you love somebody, the stronger the hate's going to be."

Ino couldn't help but he flattered that Sai cared so much about her, but at the same time she knew she had to get him back to normal. The problem was, if this wasn't a genjutsu, she couldn't snap him out of it.

"How long before it wears off or does it?" she asked her son.

"I don't know. I don't know if it will wear off."

"He's erratic," commented Sarada as she observed Sai's fight with Boruto. "It seems the longer he's under its influence, the worse it is."

It was both good and bad. On the one hand it meant the feelings of hate would only get stronger, making matters worse. On the other, not being in their right minds made them vulnerable. If Sai was fighting erratically, it left him open to a counter attack, which was good news for the Genin. Together, they might be able to take on someone as strong as Sai.

Sai threw Boruto to the ground and wrapped his hands around his neck. "I can't stand the sight of you. I can't stand you! I hate you! I hate you!"

Boruto clawed at Sai's hands, gasping for air.

"Naruto loves you so much. I can only imagine his anguish when I get rid of you." Sai licked his lips, savoring the thought. "You remind me so much of him. That face, those eyes, that hair. I'll get rid of you! I'll destroy you!"

Sai's hands started to unfurl from Boruto's neck. Something was pulling him away.

"What's this? What's happening?"

He couldn't move his body, which could only mean one thing.

Shikadai was fighting hard to restrain Sai with his shadow but Sai's power was immense.

"Jeez, he really wants to kill you," Shikadai groaned, fighting to hold on. "I don't think I can keep him back much longer."

Boruto crawled out from under Sai, coughing as air returned to his lungs. Rather than get near him, Boruto moved as far away as he could, seeing Sai fight to free himself.

It was true. Shikadai couldn't hold him for very long. Sai was pulling against him and Shikadai was breaking a sweat.

"He's too strong! I can't-"

The jutsu broke and Sai lurched forward dramatically, having been resisting as hard as he was. Sai spun around and threw himself towards the door where Ino was standing with their son. He attempted to grab her but something grabbed him instead.

A giant fist wrapped around Sai's body and held him. Chocho stood beside Shikadai, waiting for an opening to use her jutsu.

"Make it quick," she warned. "I can't hold him forever."

This was worse than they thought. Boruto and Sarada figured they could simply tie up those affected by the poison and leave them somewhere while they worked on a cure. Now that they knew someone stronger and more skilled than a Genin was affected, it meant they had to change their plans.

They couldn't possibly restrain Sai for that length of time, plus the poison seemed to tap into his adrenaline, making him stronger than usual. He wasn't going to stop. They also had no idea if Ino could use her jutsu on him safely or if it would do anything at all.

"How do we fix this?" Sarada asked, desperately. "If we can get a bunch of Jonin to restrain him…"

"If we cure him, we won't have to worry about that."

"But how?" she asked. "How do we cure this?"

Inojin had an idea. "What if it's like those fairytales and a kiss of true love will break it?"

"I doubt that. It turns love to hate. A kiss might make it worse."

"Then… What about appealing to his emotion? A symbol of some sort. Oh, I know!"

Inojin ran into his house and came back a minute later with an old drawing. He held it out to his father.

"Remember when I drew this, Dad? You were so happy and proud of me. See?"

Sai looked at the family portrait Inojin had made years ago. How he hoped his father would like it and stood fidgeting nervously like his mother, waiting for approval. Sai had taken the drawing in both hands and smiled, deeply touched and proud. It made him so happy.

That was then, but now…

Sai tried to spit on the drawing but Inojin moved it aside just in time.

"Go rot somewhere, you little brat!" he snarled. "And put that trash where it belongs, cur!"

Inojin lowered the drawing and backed away. "I really thought if I could remind him…"

Ino stood in front of her husband. "That's enough," she said firmly. "How dare you speak that way to our son."

Sai scoffed. "It's not like I wanted him."

Ino grit her teeth, growling. "Why, you..."

"You know he doesn't mean it, Mom. It's the poison talking."

Regardless, Ino slapped Sai across the face.

"Mom!"

Ino stood back, satisfied. "He probably just needed a good smack to get him back to his sense."

Sai narrowed his eyes at her and snarled, "Hideous harpy."

"Don't tell me he's stuck like this," Boruto said, unable to see how they could possibly get him back to normal. "Tell me it wears off or something."

"I don't know. I just combined it with the chocolate. I don't know if there is a cure." Chocho winced. "But I know I can't hold him all day. Someone has to do something."

Shikadai pulled out the book from his pocket to go over it again.

"This attitude is nothing like the sweet Sai I know," said Ino. "How did this happen again? He took poison by mistake? How?"

"It's a long story, Mom."

"Maybe we should punch him in the stomach really hard," suggested Boruto. "Make him throw it up. That should get him back to normal."

"If he ate it this morning, he's probably digested it by now," said Sarada.

Shikadai slammed the book shut. "I think I got it."

"Got what?"

"Just a sec." Shikadai ran into the house and started rummaging round the kitchen. He returned shortly with something in his hand. "Open his mouth."

"What?"

"Do it."

It was like forcing an animal to open its jaws. Sai twisted and turned and tried to bite them. Shikadai only got a clear shot when Sai opened wide enough to let out a few insults and he threw something down his throat.

Sai started coughing, trying to get it out but he had already swallowed it. Whatever it was, it was small; about the size of a pill.

Shikadai stepped back and waited. "I don't know how long this will take. I don't know how long it took for the chocolate thing to take effect."

"I don't think it was right away but soon enough. When did..?"

Sai started to squirm and moan, shutting his eyes tight. "Let go of me. I'm going to be sick."

Fearing he would vomit on her, Chocho released Sai and her arm shrank back to normal.

Sai doubled over on the ground. When they leaned forward to see if he was alright, Sai sprang up fighting.

"I can't believe you actually fell for that," he mocked. Sai started to reach for his kunai.

Everyone braced themselves for a fight. Ino stepped in front of Inojin with her fists raised.

Sai didn't draw his blade. His hand merely hovered over it while he looked at the ground, dazed.

He looked around, his usual calm expression taking the place of the twisted wickedness he displayed before. His eyes moved from one to the next. When his eyes fell on Ino, he spoke.

"Ino? What's going on? Why are you..?" Sai looked over his shoulder to see if there was anything behind him. Finding nothing, he looked back at her. "What's everyone doing?"

She lowered her fists. "Sai, are you ok?"

He nodded. "Yeah. A little dizzy, but I'm fine. What happened?"

Overjoyed, she threw her arms around Sai in a hug. She pulled away and looked him in the eye, checking to make sure it was really him and not an act. "Thank goodness you're ok."

"Did something happen to me? Why would I..?" Sai glanced around. "Is everything alright? I don't understand."

"Don't you remember anything?"

"Dad, did you eat some chocolate on the kitchen table today?"

"Huh? Yes, I did. I thought Ino made it for me for valentine's Day. I ate it before I left for work." Sai rubbed his temple, looking puzzled. "Come to think of it, I'm not really sure what happened. I started to feel strange when I got to the Hokage building and after that the day's just been a big haze."

"It worked. He's back to normal." Boruto looked over at Shikadai. "Whatever you gave him worked."

"What did you give him anyway?" asked Sarada.

Shikadai gave a simple but surprising answer. "Salt."

"Salt?"

"Yeah. I think those plants reacted to the sugar in the chocolate, so I figured introducing the opposite would reverse the effects. The opposite of love is hate, and the opposite of sweet is salty. Therefore, salt is the cure."

Everyone looked at each other in amazement. It seemed the cure was even simpler than they thought. They didn't have to make another potion. They just had to feed the victims salt to reverse the effects.

"That's amazing."

"Alright," said Boruto, gaining everyone's attention. "Now that we know salt is the cure, we can get Mitsuki back to normal."

"But what about the other people who ate the chocolate?" asked Chocho.

"Well, you only gave it to us and Mitsuki, right?" Inojin asked.

Chocho looked away. "Uh…"

"You did just give it to us, right?"

"Actually…" She avoided looking at them. "I did give someone else some chocolate."

"And I gave mine to someone else," confessed Shikadai.

"Pleased don't tell me it was your mom."

"No. I gave mine to Iwabe."

Sarada and Boruto both facepalmed.

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