That It's Hard To Know Who To Trust
The startling realization that the horrendous smell stinking up her nose senses was what caused Samantha's jolt to awareness, and caused an almost instant gagging feeling in her throat. The gooey slime of toad saliva clung to her body like gum to a shoe, and Samantha scrunched up her nose in disgust. She found herself lying on her back, and felt almost afraid to sit up and feel the oozing slime cling to her like it's non-existent life depended on it. Not even her eyes wanted to succumb to their readiness to take on the world. So, Sam brought a hand to her face, rubbing her eyes from their sleepful state, only to realize the skunk smelling saliva simply spread it's scent, rather than shake off her face. An image of mud clinging to her eyebrows nearly made Sam snort, when a shuffling sound was heard. Samantha quickly shot her gooey eyes open, and noticed the hardness beneath her was a lumpy ground with the smell of trees and dust; Victoria and the toad lay out cold next to her in a similar position. This had been, by far, their worst transport.
With the oncomings of a headache beginning to take form, Sam sat up, a palm against her forehead despite the gunk that covered her. (And how it managed to cover her entire body, Sam would never know. Hopefully she'd be able to get it out of her clothes! Did ninjas have good detergent? Kakashi had previously been doing their laundry. Or rather, demanded their cleanliness and insisted on making sure to wash their clothes while they had been changing into ninja clothing. With his preternatural sense of smell...she couldn't exactly blame him. They were pretty rank that first day.)
Sam glanced around her, confused. They'd landed in what seemed to be a deserted area with… she blinked in surprise. Trains? Or rather, trams? Wait… why does that seem so familiar? She thought, straining to think after their ordeal. It was night outside, stars twinkling above, the small alcove of trees surrounding the outskirts of the tracks allowed some light from the moon to illuminate dimly their surroundings. On top of the gooey gunk from the toad tongue, dirt decided to cling to the goo as well. Sam tried her best to wipe herself off, wondering when Tor would wake up when hushed sounds from behind Samantha made her ears perk.
She turned herself around and noticed, underneath one of the sitting train boxes, several pairs of feet. The light of the moon giving up the darkness of their forms. Samantha's heart stilled, yet pounded, when she realized they weren't alone.
"...e supposed to do now?" An irritated girl's voice asked.
"I didn't know it would bring 'em, here!" A defensive boy declared.
"I thought we had a plan." A new voice chimed in, nonchalant.
"We barely had a plan!" The irate girl proclaimed.
"Well it's not my fault! It's not like we could have predicted this!" The defensive boy griped, irritation also filling his tone.
"What we should have done is-" The girl began,
"Don't say we should have brought our parents into this! You know they'd never have allowed this," The defensive boy cut the irate girl off.
"She's right, brother. Maybe we should have asked someone for help." A new, younger girl's voice replied, seemingly apologetic. The defensive boy - apparently the older brother to the younger girl, groaned.
"Not you too!" he cried out in what sounded like defeat. "You both know why we couldn't have them help out."
Listening in on their conversation, Samantha wanted to giggle, but at the same time, had no desire to catch their attention. The young voices could've been anything but. Sam didn't want to find out if she was correct in her assumptions. So… she instead prodded VIctoria to try and wake her dead asleep friend.
"Psst… Tor!" Sam poked, "Tor, wake up!" As discreetly as she tried to wake her friend, apparently she was not quiet enough. This was evident when she heard the dispassionate voice chime in.
"I believe our friends have woken up." And the next thing Sam knew, she was staring into the face of the golden-eyed, white-skinned boy who looked nearly exact to Mitsuki. Except, older. Even his clothes were the different shades of blue that he so often wore in the newer anime! Though there were some deviations to that outfit. Only slight, however. The belt was thicker. His kimono hung longer, while his more toned and muscled arms no longer were overwhelmed by the length of his sleeves. All in all, his outfit seemed to proclaim his confidence in himself.
The intensity he exhumed compiled with the suddenness of his appearance nearly two inches away from her face made Sam shout out and jump backwards: grimacing as new clumps of dirt stuck to her body.
"Mitsuki!" The defensive boy's shout came, and suddenly appeared next to the first boy who Sam could now confirm was Mitsuki. Sam stared, wide eyed, at the carbon copy of someone she'd met about a week ago, or so. Except, he, too, was older. Like the beginning of the very first episode of Boruto. His face had lost the baby fat: the two scars on each cheek looked like just that, scars, and there was another in the mix. Slashed right down his right eye which coincided with his horizontally slashed headband that had the obvious Konoha symbol etched onto the metal plate. He'd scrapped the white shirt and black and red coat for a black and red shirt (similar in pattern to Naruto's jacket in Shippuden era) and a black coat, ripped to nearly the elbow on his right arm. He still wore black pants which were sucked to his shins by bandages that led into his ninja shoes. A katana was sheathed on his left side, indicative of familiarity.
Confidence and experience in his eyes foretold of the hardship of his life. It was almost intimidating to stare into those blue, blue eyes. The boy, no, teenager - which Sam knew with absolute certainty was Boruto, sighed in exasperation, ruffling a hand through his hair. Victoria began the stirrings of waking up and Sam's heart nearly jumped with relief. At least she'd be able to notice the disbelief of being in the presence of Naruto's son! Not to mention Orochimaru's! The idea made her shudder. Then as quick as Boruto and Mitsuki appeared, two more females shinobi'd themselves into place. It happened seemingly within the span of a couple seconds and as soon as they were standing there, scrutinizing Samantha and Victoria, Sam knew exactly who they were. There was enough evidence that she could not deny what she was seeing. Standing next to Boruto was, without a doubt, his younger sister Himawari looking far more grown up than she'd been in the anime, and next to her, Sarada. Just as grown up as the others. Her form was more filled out, and her hair was past the middle of her back. She still wore the red glasses, but her eyes held the same confidence and hardness as Boruto's. Especially with an activated sharingan.
Sam blew out a breath.
"Tor. Tor!" Sam shook Tori's leg, the closest part of Tor's body that Sam found herself next to.
Unconsciousness was a deep, dark pit that for once seemed safer and more comforting than the light of reality that Victoria could feel approaching. The darkness was quiet and empty. Reality was gonna be noisy and hard and it would hurt. But it was coming anyways. The sound of Sam's panicked voice yanked her the last way up and out of oblivion. And then Sam shook her leg and Tori felt her whole head split in pain at the unexpected touch. She hissed and flinched away, hands going straight to her aching head where a damp stickiness (that felt somehow different from the toad spit coating the rest of her) and throbbing lump explained the lovely new migraine. Through watering eyes, she could just make out the form of a railroad tie bar running past one shoulder: she must have hit her head when they dropped. Her breath caught harshly as the ache around her ribs made itself just as painfully known with each sharp breath.
"Hng!" She whimpered. "Ehn.. Oh, no, I don't want to." Sam's hands stopped shaking her leg, and Tori clenched her fists tightly as the screaming pain in her skull dulled slightly. Moving as little as possible, she braved trying another full breath. Going slower seemed to help, but she was worried that her ribs were more than merely bruised. "Oh man, that hurts."
Gingerly, she uncurled her fingers from her bloody hair trying to take stock of things. Headache: awful but better when she didn't move. Skull itself: no longer bleeding but wicked goose-egg. Ribs: super sore, breathing sucks but survivable. Other limbs: sore especially left shoulder that probably hit the railroad tie too. Feet: cold? Oh yeah. Some idiot Tori of the hour before had left her shoes by a boulder before confronting Pervy Sage about the inexplicably important paper scrap. And everything felt nasty: like she had taken a horrible nightmare-filled nap in a box of dirty, sweaty gym clothes on the back of a school bus in mid-August. Yes, exactly that awful and smelly. "Oh, Sam, please let me die now.." she breathed, carefully trying to rub away the pain in her aching shoulder while not getting her hands even grosser with the spit-dust-mud on her poor dress. At least the light wasn't blinding: the real world was all dusky twilight. And since she could mostly see, there wasn't a reason to feel for her glasses: they must have miraculously stayed on.
Samantha snorted her laughter, despite her racing heart. After all, it wasn't every day you met the second generation of shinobi that you admired so much! Who knew that was even possible? Scratch that. Who knew it was even possible to dimension hop in the first place?
"Uh, Tor? We've got company." She pointed to the four teenage shinobi staring at them blandly. Well, except Mitsuki. His gaze was a mixture of perhaps curiosity and intensity.
Victoria shot a trepidatious look over and then returned her gaze to Sam. "No," she protested weakly, "I do not want to do this again. No more magic ninja stuff. No more painful drops from the sky and no, no more having to meet new, beautiful, younger-than-me people who wanna kill us. That's it. I'm done. Jesus needs to take me home now."
"I don't think we've got a choice." Sam stated with a sigh, beginning to run a hand through her hair until it got stuck not only from her hat, but the gooey slime of saliva saturating her hair. "Besides… they called us 'friends'. Maybe they've got an idea what's going on?" Sam looked at the teens with an expectant look, noticing the blatant stares of the teens before them. Boruto, stance wide with arms folded against his chest, heaved a sigh himself.
"I guess we've got no choice but to let them in on what's going on." He grumbled, a slight pout maring his features for only a fraction. Heaving another sigh, Boruto massaged his temple with one hand.
"Ne, ne? Are you sure we should tell them? We've not even told Shikadai's father yet," Sarada questioned, her brow furrowed. Her eyes staying the same blood red of the sharingan (or was it the mangekyo now? Her eyes seemed creepier than the just the three tomoe of the sharingan).
"Well, what else do you suggest we do?"
"Good point," Sarada reasoned. Boruto then introduced the group, first pointing to himself with his thumb before listing everyone's names.
"The name's Uzumaki Boruto. This here is my little sis, Himawari. That's Uchiha Sarada, and this guy next to me is Mitsuki."
"Boruto?" Victoria blurted, shock making her strained features even paler. "There's no way you're even born yet. Unless we went..." Realizing what she was saying through the pounding of her head, Tori frowned and winced. They were supposed to be being careful. But she was starting to wonder what the point was since anytime things got dicey the whole world flipped around and they started over. Maybe full honesty would be best, but.. ugh! I can't make sense of anything any more! "What the heck is going on? Where are we? And what day is it?"
"Unless you went from the past into the future?" Sarada supplied, "Well… you'd be right." Her confirmation was enough to make Sam's eyes widen. Her heart pounded even harder in her chest as she glanced between the shinobi. Himawari smiled at the two women, sending reassuring glances their way as if hoping that they'd not be as frightened as dimension time-travelling seriously was. How the young, wide-eyed, blue-haired shinobi was able to ease the tension that seemed to rise in the air was beyond Samantha. Perhaps she'd inherited a form of the talk-no-jutsu? Yup. That's probably it. Talk-no-jutsu, just to make us comfortable enough to let our guard down.
"So… if we're really in the future… how'd that happen? Was it you guys, then, that brought us here? How? Why? What are you wanting us to do? Why pick us?" The questions spilled out of her mouth, but once they began, Sam thought they'd never stop.
"...Well, you see… that's kind of a bit of a long story." Boruto laughed apologetically, rubbing an arm behind his back.
"A long story? I'm all for knowing what that is." Sam lifted a hand, watching Victoria out of the corner of her eye. Her friend seemed more tired than usual upon waking, but for the life of her, Samantha couldn't remember why. Something about the toad… her eyes glanced at the still unconscious amphibian. Poor thing. Wrong place, wrong time. I wonder if its toad friends would know that it's here with us. And alive too. Her thoughts rambled on before she realized that her mind had drifted off from the moment at hand.
The four teenagers seemed to be silently debating who would talk. Something about the looks exchanged was unsettling. Knowing that nothing was going to be improved by her staying sprawled where she was, Victoria slowly pushed herself up to sitting despite the pain in her ribs, pressing her palm against her aching side. "And please," Tori added tiredly, "For the love of heaven, just tell us the truth. Whatever that means to you."
Boruto scrutinized them, a small pout of indignation taking form onto his face. He glanced at Sarada, who was also scrutinizing the two women, before sighing. She waved a hand into the air, "Go on then." Her response, directed at Boruto, was dispassionate. Behind her red glasses, the young woman's eyes seemed strained: bruises darkened the skin beneath the unsettling red of her sharingan.
The exaggerated sigh the blond shinobi gave out was almost comical. It was quite clear the teenager had no desire to explain the situation, but given the circumstances, it was the better option. It looks like we've stumbled onto more than our pickings of pumpkins. Sam thought, her own eyes narrowed in return.
"Fine..." Boruto finally said aloud, looking the two women in the face. "I'm not sure you've really been able to notice," he began, gesturing around him, "But this is Konoha. In the future, so to speak. Well… the future from where you were just at. Agh! I hate time travel," Boruto muttered the last sentence. "Anyway, this is the actual present. You've been in the past, because… well… it was on accident."
"On accident," Samantha repeated, unamused by the phrase, even if Boruto's way of explaining left her wanting to giggle. He really wasn't doing well with his way of words. She gave Tori a look.
Victoria frowned back in response to Sam. Her head was pounding or she would have picked apart the theoretics of time travel. Right now, she just wanted to know what was happening today. Yesterday would wait. "Let's focus on just - just right now," she said, gesturing for Boruto to get back on topic.
"My brother isn't explaining this very well," Himawari opted in, ignoring Boruto's 'Hey!' as she did so.
"What my comrade is trying to say," Sarada drawled, "is that Konoha was attacked. The attacker was very powerful, and Lord Seventh - well, you might know him as Uzumaki Naruto - stepped in to counter this auspicious foe." Samantha's eyes began to widen with recognition as the youngest Uchiha clan member told their harrowing tale. This was familiar. Recently so. The Boruto anime had only been out for a short time, but Sam would never forget the beginning scene of the first episode of the anime and the beginning pages of the manga. A destroyed Konoha. It looked worse than the Pein arc (but that could've been because during the Pein arc, there was a giant hole with no place for toppled buildings).
"They fought tooth and nail. Even Lord Sixth came to help out!" Sarada continued, perhaps aware of the recognition flowing in Sam's mind but not feeling the need to acknowledge such awareness. "Kawaki. That's the name of the formidable shinobi. He's the one who started this war on our home. He was working with others in a major plot to destroy Konoha and in the process.. well… this is where we need you to come in."
Tori's gaze narrowed. "Where you need us to come in?" she asked, just barely holding her incredulity in check. She frowned at the evasive teenagers. "Let's just forget even for a moment that we are not exactly useful warriors here, but how do you explain why we would even be interested in risking our lives for something going on here?"
The youngest teen stepped forward a little. Himawari's light eyes seemed to plead for them to hear the four of them out. "Please. Just listen," she prompted. "While the Leaf Village was under attack, Kawaki used a jutsu against our father: Uzumaki Naruto, the Seventh Hokage."
Boruto's fists clenched tightly together as he admitted, "The jutsu made my father disappear. But not just him. Kawaki and Kakashi Ojii-san. They disappeared too." Himawari stepped closer, placing her hand on his shoulder in quiet support.
Victoria's heart flip-flopped. Stupid heart. "Disappeared?" she breathed.
"How did you even come to that conclusion?" Samantha asked, genuinely curious as to how they could possibly know that Naruto and Kakashi weren't dead. Especially if they weren't in the midst of that fight.
"We're shinobi," Boruto deadpanned, as if it were the most obvious thing that should have occurred to the two girls.
"Do you know where they went?" Victoria interrupted, "How are you planning to get them back?" She struggled to stand up, but managed to get more or less upright with the help of Sam and the metal bar jutting from the side of the railroad car behind them. "What are you doing?"
"Yeah, and how are we supposed to help?" Sam questioned. The shinobi seemed very good at diverting that question. Based on the way they all awkwardly looked at each other, it seemed like maybe that was because they didn't actually have an answer yet.
"Ah, well, you see-" Boruto began sheepishly.
"It was never supposed to be you that we brought back." Mitsuki spoke up for the first time during the explanations.
"What do you mean? We're here, aren't we?" Sam bit her lip, confused. Obviously they had made it to the Naruto universe, so there had to be a reason, right? It was simply ridiculous that they never meant to bring two civilian women from their home and to a different dimension to chase after who knew what.
"You see… we have this theory that… that my father and Kakashi Ojii-san are still alive but… not in our world. We were able to trace their chakra to what we've learned is your dimension. Your world." Himawari chimed in, holding a fist close to her heart. She looked so much like Hinata it was uncanny, though she held herself with more confidence than the anime portrayed Hinata. "S-so we were hoping to bring them back here. To us."
Finally, finally it seemed to sink in for Samantha that it had really all been an accident. That they were never supposed to be here in the first place. That it was perhaps due to lack of experience and possibly chakra (yay for paying attention to Naruto! This wouldn't make much sense otherwise Sam's thoughts laughed at herself) which caused a mistake to happen.
Victoria gave a mirthless laugh. "So, my anime-crush is literally walking around our world, and I'm stuck here with the giant frogs and the blisters and the terribleness? That's so ironic I wanna cry." She shook her head and then groaned when that made her skull throb with pain.
Sam shook her own head at Tori's ridiculousness and unconsciously adopted her heroic stance: both hands fisted at her hips, her shoulders thrown back, chin up. "So… what do you want us to do, then?" Sam scrutinized the four solemn figures. Despite their young ages, Samantha was impressed how calm and collected they had been when retelling the events of their village's destruction. Good ol' shinobi training, I tell ya. Sam's mind wandered, briefly looking at Victoria who was waiting with as much anticipation as Samantha for what they were aiming to accomplish.
"Wait," Tori said, "You said you were hoping to get them back. But you didn't. You got us! But. Then, how were we getting yanked around to like Jiraiya and then here? Did you guys do that too?"
"Yup," Boruto replied, "That was me." He rummaged in his pants pocket before pulling out a familiar looking object: the marble. Samantha immediately shot her hand into her own pocket, only to pull out her own exact copy of the inanimate object. "We've been able to transport you to where you'll find a piece of parchment that are, apparently, in different points in time. We need you to gather and hold onto them until we can bring you back to our time."
Tori and Sam exchanged a look of surprise and then immediate understanding. "The parchment!" they said simultaneously. "Friggin' parchment almost killed us," Victoria growled. "Wait, so the weird voice in our heads, compulsion to chase after it - you guys?"
Laughing awkwardly, the blond boy rubbed the back of his head in a move extremely reminiscent of his father. "Yeah…"
"Why?" Sam demanded.
"Because!" Boruto said, exasperated. He looked to Sarada for a little help in his frazzled state.
"We can't really say. At least... Not until we have all the pieces gathered together." Sarada pushed her glasses up higher on her nose, watching Victoria and Samantha intently.
"But can't you give us a little nibble to chew on?" Samantha pleaded.
Victoria placed her hand on Sam's arm, halting her. "Sam, I don't think they can. It's time travel, remember? Paradoxes and alternate timelines and inevitability factors. If they try to explain what we have to do, our own attempts to fulfill it might sabotage things. It's probably better that we don't know everything."
"Screw paradoxes!" Sam's eyes glinted, feeling a tinge of irritation. A flaw of hers, apparently. Sam was never good at being in the dark. "I mean, we're fighting for your sake. It's uncool to not let us know all the details. We're not shinobi like you so-"
"Exactly. You're not shinobi. You have even less need to know all the facts than a normal genin squad." Mitsuki's point was direct and almost insulting.
"Yeah, well… we don't follow the same rules as you. We've got our independence. Livelihood. Families. There's a lot at stake for us."
"Although not if we don't get back home," Victoria said tiredly. "Which means since only you guys can move us, we are stuck doing what you ask."
Samantha eyed Victoria, though irritated, she was also worried for her friend. Tori seemed to be growing more tired as time passed. Still, it didn't make her statement any less true.
"That's right. Only we have the ability to get you home so-"
"So if you have that ability, why not send us home and bring back your dad and Kakashi?" Sam interjected. She was also tired, and growing grumpier as they talked. Sleep. I definitely need some sleep. No… rest. I need rest. Oi… my eyes are tired. Boruto's shoulders sagged warily as he began to answer Samantha's question.
"Unfortunately, there's some extenuating factors that we need to have before we can do what you suggest," Sarada stated. Man… for being awesome ninja, they sure are stingy in the information they give out Sam pouted to herself.
"The parchment scraps being one of them?" Victoria sighed and leaned against the rough, wooded side of the train car that was helping her keep upright. Sarada's nod both answered the question and made it clear that the young shinobis were not going to give much more. "Okay then. We can help gather those for you but we have some demands of our own in return."
"We do?" Samantha gave the tiniest of whispers. At Victoria's slight nod, Samantha emphasized Victoria's statement. "Yeah we do! We've got some demands."
All four shinobi raised their eyebrows in a nearly synchronized manner. If it hadn't been for Tori's surprise statement, Sam would've thought they had planned the action.
"Okay… we'll see if we can accommodate you," Boruto offered, waiting. He folded his arms, a stern 'get on with it' look on his face.
"We need supplies," Victoria declared first. "Clothing, food, and money that would be appropriate for the time periods you send us to. And something to defend ourselves with. Also," she pointed to the poor toad that was still totally unconscious, "I didn't like having to fight with someone who is an ally so please turn off the compulsion thing. It's really creepy."
"Ah," Boruto rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly. "Sorry. Because we hadn't been able to talk to you, we needed to make sure you knew you had to grab the parchment paper."
"That's Boruto for you," Sarada sighed with a tiny shrug.
"I feel like I keep getting picked on," Boruto muttered with a pout, "Who was the one who helped save the shinobi world?"
"I think that would be your dad." Sarada smirked.
"No respect," Boruto sighed, before turning his attention to Sam and Victoria once again. "I can't make any promises on the compulsion. That's directly related to my own personal feelings on the matter. But when it comes to supplies… I think we can handle that!"
"Yeah! I'm sure mom won't mind us borrowing some of her things," Himawari chimed in, happily.
"But… in that sense.. How? Isn't your home destroyed?" Sam asked, because, well, war in Konoha. Obviously. Himawari smiled, her cheeks going all the way up to her sparkling blue eyes. She made a hand sign - I wish I had memorized just what signs they made for everything, Sam thought briefly as she watched the younger Uzumaki child - and poof, a scroll appeared out of thin air. Samantha blinked in awe as Himawari then proceeded to open it up and made another hand sign before placing her hand onto the scroll. A couple things poofed into her arms including a pouch with what looked to be kunai protruding from it, a shirt that matched the one Himawari was wearing, and what looked like an orange jacket. Samantha's eyes widened a little.
"Wait… isn't that orange jacket Naruto's?"
"Yeah. I know how special it is to him, so I swiped it before things got too crazy in the village." Himawari's smile was contagious. Boruto humphed a smile, placing a hand on his little sister's head.
"You really do know Dad quite well," he said as Himawari shrugged a little, then he looked at Sam and Tor once more.
"See? We've got everything covered. We're shinobi. It's what we do."
Victoria mentally sighed at the hopeful-eyed Himawari whose helpful supplies appeared to be healthy tween sized hoodies. Oh well. At least they are trying. Even if there's no way on earth those would fit me. Maybe Sam.. "We also need a little recovery time before we go out again," she said, gingerly pressing her hand against one side of her aching ribs. "We've been going for nearly 48 hours now without really sleeping, I need some painkiller, and we both are covered in toad slime. Anything you can do about that?" Tori was aware that she sounded pretty curt but this was as diplomatic and tactful as she could manage under all the terribleness of the day and how her head was throbbing. They were lucky really. She could feel her patience fraying and unraveling like Sasuke's cursemark seal.
"Ne, Boruto." Sarada turned to Boruto, " What do you think?" The boy in question contemplated the situation, no doubt thinking of places of rest and recuperation. Whether they even had a place for Sam and Tori to stay was the unspoken question. Oddly, Mitsuki began to speak when he was immediately interrupted by the massive toad that had gotten caught in the time travel.
"Hrrrrrbt!" The poor thing jolted awake, looking around frantically. At first, it whirled on the two women, staring at them with crazed eyes, before looking around at its surroundings.
"Um… It's okay… uh… Mister Toad," Samantha began, stepping towards the toad with placating hands. The toad however, kept its frantic search, ribbeting loudly. Its body was so large that the ground shook slightly because of its heavy weight.
"What the-!" Boruto growled out, "Toad-san! Stop! You're gonna give away our position!" Boruto made the hand sign for his shadow clone jutsu, while Mitsuki stepped out, throwing his arms to wrap around the toad to stop its panicked rampage. His efforts, however, frightened the toad more, and it squibbled and squabled and went into the defense. Himawari stepped in front of Samantha and Victoria, while Sarada and Boruto joined the fray to quiet the poor creature.
"Don't hurt him!" Samantha shouted out over the rough noise of the buzzing ribbet sounds.
"Don't worry, Samantha-san. Nii-san is very good at what he does. He'll be able to stop this toad in no time!" Himawari had turned to them, informing them of the very well rounded team seven's abilities.
"Without hurting him?" Sam asked, nervously licking her lips. The poor thing! If only there was something Sam or Tori could do for the big creature.
Himawari opened her mouth to respond when suddenly, the shaking ground stopped, and Boruto's "kusō" could be heard in the background: several poofs were heard before all noise was effectively snuffed out. All pairs of eyes were on team seven, wondering just what, exactly, happened, when someone walked out of the shadows of the unworking box train. Samantha's jaw dropped, as the pineapple shaped hair and green cream shirt teenager came into view, His hands were held in a jutsu obviously known by none other than the Nara clan. He looked so much like Shikamaru, that Samantha would have thought it was him, except for how young the shinobi looked. That's… that's Shikadai! Shikamaru's son! Sam thought, continuously surprised by how many characters from the Naruto-verse were proven real. Shikadai smirked as his fellow shinobi recognized him.
"It was a drag, but the sounds that this frog were making needed to be stopped. It made a lot of noise. My dad seemed suspicious."
"Ah, heh. Sorry, Shikadai," Boruto said, sheepishly. The next heir to the Nara clan looked over at Sam and Tori, an eyebrow raising.
"I take it the cause of the disturbance would be due to these three?" he stated in less than a question and more of an observation.
"Yeah… There were some complications."
"Obviously."
"Um… hi?" Sam said, hesitantly raising one hand in their now trademark greeting. Shikadai contemplated their existence for a moment, before sighing and then glaring at Boruto.
"Sorry," Boruto said again, "They uh… came here on accident."
"On accident?" Shikadai sighed, "Can't say I'm surprised. But we better make sure not to let the adults know. This is not an issue they'd approve of, I don't think."
"But, they need a place to stay," Himawari piped up, her brow furrowed in worry. "Brother, where will they stay? And she looks like she could use a medic-nin." Himawari pointed towards Victoria.
"Painkillers at least," Tori affirmed, under her breath muttering to herself so only Sam would hear, "Some knucklehead dropped us out of a tree and then onto a railroad track.." in a more normal voice, she waved a hand at the new teenager. "I'm guessing he is a compatriot in arms on the secret project?"
"That's Shikadai, Shikamaru's son!" Samantha offered quietly, not taking her eyes off the shinobi.
"Shikamaru..." Tori shook her slightly to indicate she didn't recognize the name from Sam's attempts to explain the major events of the universe. "Is he generally trustworthy?"
"Yeah. Most definitely is," Sam confirmed. "Shikamaru is the advisor to Naruto!"
Shikadai overheard what Samantha had said and hummed his awareness, eyes narrowing.
"Boruto, is there something about these two you need to tell me?"
"Eh? No? You know everything."
"Except that they know who I am, and who my dad and your dad is. Do you know why?"
"I'm not really sure how they came to know about us… just that they do. Some type of book or something." Boruto shrugged. It made sense to Sam, since she and Tori had talked a lot about the manga and anime; but since those words didn't exist in this world, the shinobi wouldn't know what that meant. At least, Sam was mostly positive they didn't. After all… T.V.s turned out to exist in this world when she had previously thought otherwise. Who knew what more could enlighten her?
"How did you know we know about you from a manga? Well, book, if you will," Sam asked. After all, they'd not mentioned any of those things in their presence.
"Ah, well… eh-heh." Boruto rubbed the back of his head, sighing in resignation.
"We heard them talking about it," Mitsuki said, matter of fact.
"Eew! Were you watching us the whole time? This whole series is just a bunch of perverts, isn't it, Sam? Kakashi's books… that toad guy… and now this? Yuck." Victoria's nose scrunched up in disgust.
"In order to make sure we knew when you have to grab the piece of parchment, we had to listen and wait for the moment to come to help influence you," The white-skinned shinobi carried on, ignoring Victoria's distaste. Shikadai sighed, releasing the jutsu now that the once-rampaging toad had calmed down. Samantha couldn't help but watch in awe to see shadows creeping back to a pacifist position as Shikadai's shadow. Dang… that's a friggin' awesome jutsu! And.. terrifying Sam eyed the calm toad, its huffing the only sounds of the poor things distress.
"How troublesome. You do know that if this gets out that we brought two civilians from a different dimension here, not to mention in an attempt to-"
"A-ah! We're well aware of the kind of trouble we'll be in with the adults, Shikadai. No need to berate us," Boruto interrupted him. Whatever the Nara member wanted to say, it was quite apparent that Boruto had no plans of sharing that information with the two women.
"What? What are you attempting to do? We know it has something to do with us." Samantha folded her arms, waiting. Her heart pounded a little, either in anticipation or nervousness, Sam wasn't sure.
"Well, they wanna change the past, obviously," Victoria drawled. "And I doubt it's just so that someone wins a silly contest or something. Messing around with time travel always means big universe-stuff." Giving up on the idea of finding rest soon or any pretense of dignity, Tori sat down on the long piece of steel that ringed the edge of the box car she had been leaning against. It was as uncomfortable as she anticipated. "Dangerous to mess with. You usually end up the villain or causing the event you wanted to avoid in the first place. I kinda feel like y'all haven't really thought this through yet."
Boruto frowned at Victoria. "Either way, we need you. We can't do this without your help."
"Well, we did say we would help you," Victoria reminded him. "But first you gotta get us outfitted. And probably figure out what to do with that frog. Go do that. We can sit here and drip frog-goo until you decide where to hide us from your collective moms."
At the mention of the toad, all eyes turned towards the creature. It had gone from being held by Shikadai's jutsu, to sagging in defeat against the ground; almost like a cat splayed across the arm of a chair. Boruto walked towards the toad, a hand on his hip,
"Ne, Toad-san? You okay?" He knelt down, touching a hand to the toad's head. It looked up at him, eyeing him intently.
"You look just like-" It paused breathing deeply. It looked at its surroundings, taking in the old train, the shinobi, and Sam and Tori. "You there," it called over to the two women, "This is your doing, isn't it?"
Sam blinked. It was creepy, seeing the toad speak. "Uh… well, actually. No. This is their fault." She pointed at Boruto who glared just a second, then turned towards the toad.
"Well, she's not wrong. Sorry Toad-san. We didn't mean to bring you here, too."
"Where is here, exactly?" It asked. Silence reigned. No one wanted to let the toad know the truth. He'd been unconscious for the whole of their conversation.
"Um, well, Toad-san," Himawari stepped up, clasping boths hands together, "You're… well… in the future." More silence.
"What." The toad deadpanned. It glanced frantically around, looking between the shinobi, and Sam and Tori, its breathing (a soft ribbetting hurr) intensifying. "I need to get back!" It ground out, before poofing out of existence, leaving behind a puddle of gooey mud.
"Well, that went well," Sarada voiced, a tinge of sarcasm lacing her words. She sighed before looking at Sam and Victoria. "Ne, don't worry about waiting for a place to stay. We'll make sure to get the supplies you need so that you won't have to worry while being in the past. My mom is a medic, so she'll be able to help heal your wounds," at this, she directed towards Victoria. "We'll just say you're civilians we came across after the aftermath of the Leaf's destruction. Since you can't use jutsu, convincing even Shikadai's dad that you're civilians won't be too hard."
"My dad's smarter than you think, Sarada. He's going to be suspicious."
"Then let him be," She shot back, "We don't really have any other choice now, do we?"
"That still doesn't explain how they read about us," Shikadai muttered, "I'm curious to know just what their world is like and why they are able to recognize us. Before we send you off again, you'll tell us everything you know." He stated louder. Samantha frowned mutely. She was exhausted, dirty, and desperately needing a shower.
Victoria snorted derisively. "Tit for tat, me amigos. I ain't telling you anymore about what we know unless you tell us what you know. I may not be a ninja, but I'm not stupid." Boruto and friends were seeing a side of Victoria that Kakashi had luckily avoided: when Tori was too-tired and/or sick/hurting her niceness filters came down. She was starting to feel rather sassy.
"I have to agree with Tori. We both really need to get cleaned up and she could really use the help of your mother," Sam nodded towards Sarada. "Not to mention get new clothes..." Sam grimaced as she touched her hair, feeling nauseous at the smell. Shikadai frowned, folding his arms, dissatisfied with their response.
"Will you be okay to walk into the village? It's a bit far from here." Himawari asked, her voice sympathetic to Victoria's plight.
"I can walk," Tori assured. "It's just my top half that wants to die. Well, actually, how far is it? Cuz you guys have a crazily warped perspective about distances. Seriously, how have you not invented cars?"
"Cars?" Mitsuki repeated, blinking.
"Ah, a form of transportation where we're from. Similar to trains but… individual." Sam briefly explained, not bothering to go into more detail.
Himawari, for all of Tori's sass, took it in stride. A large smile graced her lips, "It's a couple kilometers from here. Probably about… what would you say, Boruto?"
"It's at least seven kilometers from here. We have to head closer to the middle of the city. And with all the debris from the destroyed buildings… it'll be a bit longer to get where the makeshift hospital is." Boruto sighed, "I guess we've got no choice. We'll carry you."
Tori looked down at her poor, naked feet and sighed heavily. There was no way she'd be able to walk several miles through a destroyed city without even socks to protect her little tootsers. "I hate you, Kishimoto-San," she said despairingly to the ground. "May you never write again. Well, no, but may you have to be dragged to another dimension and forced to hike barefoot like I am now. Then you'll know true pain." Shaking her head in pity and a distant rage for the Naruto-verse author, she gestured fruitlessly about. "Alright. Well, my pride's shot anyways. How we gonna do this?"
Samantha couldn't help the giggle, muttering for Tori to hear 'curse you palm tree' and giggling all the more after it. She ignored the strange looks she received from their new shinobi friends, glancing down at her own feet that were still covered, thankfully. Even if they were covered in goo. "I'm good," She stated.
"We'll be carrying both of you, since it will be faster that way." Mitsuki eye-smiled at Samantha. There's no way he didn't get that from Kakashi. He had to have gotten it from Kakashi. Still, she wasn't happy with the situation. It was all well and good to be carried but… these shinobi were kids. It was a little uncomfortable for her. Sam did not like the idea.
"Mitsuki, you take Victoria, I'll take Samantha. Let's go, quickly. It's late, and we don't want to be questioned more than necessary," Boruto stated, walking up to Samantha while Mitsuki walked up to Victoria.
"Uh," Samantha said, eloquently. She shifted, uncomfortable, not sure how to go about being carried. She was used to carrying her own weight; relying on herself, whether she was hurt or tired. Having someone else, especially a teenager of all people, carry her, was, sadly, anticlimactic. Where was her knight in shining armor, darn it!? Boruto gazed at her with his piercing blue eyes, shadowed by his blonde locks. He was as tall as her, surprisingly, and didn't hesitate to pick her up bridal style and shot off, the air whooshing past as fast as a tornado. The butterflies in her stomach made Samantha gasp a little as she watched the scenery blur by, as if she were in a high speed chase. She barely noticed the others swiftly following alongside Boruto.
Surprisingly, Tori was having the time of her life, clinging to Mitsuki's back - her ribs had not liked the bridal style suggestion. Giggling a little, she called over to Sam, "Hey! Sam! I figured it out! Making cars is stupid when you can have your own personal roller coaster effect. Hey, ninja kid, you should do some jumps or something, but careful, yeah? Man, this is great!"
Mitsuki hummed his affirmation, complying with Victoria's request. Samantha watched in amusement, and shouted with her own glee as Boruto followed suit. "This is amazing!" Sam said, having distant thoughts of Disney's Rapunzel and her own shouts of glee after being freed from the tower. Time seemed to go too quickly, and soon enough, the destruction of the Leaf village sobered Samantha as they slowed down to a normal run, seeing bursts of people the closer they were to the hospital. No one seemed to bat an eye as the five shinobi and two women zoomed past, the display showing just how normal it was for shinobi to be a part of the village.
When they came upon the makeshift hospital - a white, tent-like fixture - Sam and Tori were both set down to walk on their own. Sarada looked around the wide open space, ignoring the sounds of sickness and beds everywhere, before turning to look back at the tiny group. "I'm gonna go find my mom, I'll be right back." Then turned and left down a small walkway with patients on the floor on either side. It reminded Sam a bit like Hogwarts at the end of the seventh movie part two, except this hospital was brighter.
Victoria swayed a little as she finally re-joined the normal ground. She had to move carefully what with her ribs and bare toes. Absentmindedly, she patted the shinobi's shoulder in gratitude almost like you would pat a horse once the ride was done. "Thanks," she told the weirdly pale teen. "What's your name again?" But as he turned to her in the light, Tori felt her heart leap up into her throat in pure terror. There was something inherently wrong with this boy's eyes. She was almost used to the creepy other colors: like the mostly white eyes of Neji or the bright red of Kakashi's sharingan, but it wasn't just the startlingly metallicy gold color: his eyes were too big and just… not human. She backed up uneasily, looking for Sam and trying really hard not to let her sudden fright show.
Mitsuki stared at Victoria's retreating form curiously, his metallic gold eyes carefully intaking her actions. He made no sound, nor did he make any move to follow after her, but he couldn't help his curiosity from peaking. Having two strange women from a different dimension, if he hadn't been a part of the cause of their appearance, he would've thought that his parent had something to do with it.
Samantha, for all her lack of observation, was acutely aware of Victoria's actions. Especially considering where they were: a makeshift hospital full of people who needed medical attention and the flurry of nurses that passed quickly by to help those calling for them or otherwise needed. All the while they were waiting for Sakura. Sam placed a comforting hand on Victoria's shoulder, trying to convey to her that everything would be fine, even though she, too, felt unnerved by Orochimaru's fabricated son. She kinda half-smiled when she felt Tori's shoulder straighten underneath her hand as though her mercurial friend gained courage from the gesture. "That's Mitsuki," Sam answered.
"Th..thank you, Mitsuki," Victoria said slowly, her eyes still watching the strange creature cautiously. Everything in her was screaming that something about his existence was wrong, but he seemed to be a person so she needed to try to ignore that and treat him like everyone else was. Her headache seemed to stab even harder at her now and she grimaced a little as she gently prodded the goose egg under her sticky hair. Around them, the room was noisily busy and they were left in the awkward island of her, Sam, the silent Mitsuki, and, for the moment, Himawari.
Shikadai had left them earlier, claiming he needed to speak to his father for some unfinished business, and left them to it. It was something to be said for Boruto's character when, not even five minutes after having arrived in the hospital, people came up to the teenager, expressing gratitude for all that he'd done to stop the invasion and save the people of Konoha. Boruto laughed abashedly, rubbing the back of his head, responding to each of the villager's that came up to him. Surprisingly many for a hospital. Himawari simply smiled alongside her brother, taking in stride all that they said, before doing her part in walking around and greeting the citizens of Konoha. It was almost as if both of the Uzumaki children were prepared to take the hat. Sam half-wondered if Boruto had changed his mind in becoming hokage. He seemed to be at ease with everyone well enough. Contemplating their goals for the future, and what they could possibly entail, Samantha noticed a bandage that peaked above the collar of Boruto's coat, and the slight way he favored his right arm. And he still had the strength to carry someone like me? Sam stared, unblinking, in thought. Shinobi really were hard pressed to let injuries hold them back. She couldn't help but wonder if Boruto was mostly healed, and if not, how long ago their village had been destroyed. Has time passed the same here as it has for us? That's probably something we should ask them about… Especially if they're wanting our help… hm. She bit her lip, unable to stop frowning in consternation.
Within at least a fifteen minute timeframe, Sarada walked quickly towards their little group. Sakura, in all her splendor, followed right behind, looking at ease with herself and those around her. Samantha wished, not for the first time since they woke, that she could clean herself up, especially when meeting Sakura for the first time since they began this bizarre adventure. Let it be known that Masashi Kishimoto had no idea how to draw a beautiful woman. Sakura, for all that the anime tried, was stunningly beautiful in real life. Her beautiful, pastel pink locks actually hung behind her, longer than the anime portrayed by this point, though half was pulled back into a messy bun, almost as beautiful as any drawing could possibly make. She had the iconic diamond in the middle of her forehead which accented its high nature. The anime had tried to convey how big her forehead was, and it was definitely not wrong that she had a larger forehead than someone like, well, Sarada, but because of the way her bangs accented her face, complemented by not only being pulled back, but that diamond of strength, had cause to make Sakura more beautiful than any drawing Kishimoto had ever drawn in the first place.
Sakura's startling green eyes washed over Sam and Tori, taking in the two dimension-hopping women in stride, as if she had done this a bazillion times before. Which, when it came to patients, she most likely had.
"So… which one of you is it that could use some mending?" She smiled, her voice sounding so much like the Japanese voice actress, Samantha couldn't help her jaw drop.
Victoria blinked. She remembered Sakura had pink hair and was a very boy-crazy tweenager. Apparently Sakura had grown up to be incredibly confident in that way that made her already-beautiful features down right gorgeous. What a glow-up, Tori noted to herself, feeling the massive amounts of toad goo in her hair suddenly doubling in weight and stench by very nature of being in contact with such fluffy, happy locks. And that color! She gave a slightly wistful sigh of pure envy at the thought of having the genetics that allowed for pink hair all day every day. Maybe there was something to be said for this ninja world beyond just its ridonculously fit men-creatures. "That'd be me," she answered, raising a hand. "Sorry. Got clotheslined by a dude, smothered by a toad, and now I've also got a nice big bump on my head thanks to gravity and a railroad tie. It's been kind of a rough day."
"It would seem so," Sakura responded, her lips twitching upward; eyes sparkling. Samantha guiltily raised her own hand.
"I also was smothered by a toad." Sakura's shimmering eyes briefly looked over Samantha, then turned to look at Victoria once again, giving her a once-more over, before looking about her and pulling up a chair and gesturing for Victoria to sit.
"Here, you look exhausted. Let me take a look and see what I can do for you."
Tori gave her a grateful smile and sat down. "Thanks. Sorry to cause all the trouble." She vainly pushed her nasty hair over one shoulder, only slightly wincing as the blood and goo holding said hair yanked against the tender skin at the back of her neck. "Your kids were really kind to help us out."
Sakura smiled as she placed a green, chakra encased hand over Victoria's neck, "Just as I raised her to be." She placed her hand on Victoria's head, "To be kind, that is. It is a shinobi's duty to help any civilian out but, there's definitely more to being a shinobi than fulfilling one's duty."
"It is," Tori agreed wholeheartedly, her eyes falling shut as the tingly warmth spread over and through her head, easing the ache with comfort and warmth. "Kindness is what we all need, just to be human. Most important thing of all." She shivered a little as the green light seemed to feather at the back of her ear. "Oo, that tickles."
Sakura smiled endearingly, "Yeah, it might make you a little sleepy also." Sakura placed her healing hands against Victoria's ribs, brows furrowing slightly, "It would seem you've fractured your ribs. There's not much we can do about that by way of bandages. You'll need to get plenty of rest, and drink lots of liquids. I have some pain medication you can have that you take with food - usually at lunch." She completed her assessment and healing, pushing herself up from the crouched position she'd been in.
"How long will it take for Tori to heal up?" Samantha asked, feeling slightly anxious for her friend, not to mention how… earnest and hasty Boruto and the other's seemed to be feeling as well. Time didn't seem to be at their leisure.
"A fractured bone, especially on the ribs, will take at least a few weeks." Sakura replied, looking at Samantha. It was startling to see that Sakura was just as tall as she was. They came eye-to-eye. Samantha looked to Boruto, who had continued to talk to his fellow villagers during Victoria's assessment. Himawari, Sarada, and Mitsuki listened in on what Sakura had to say, and the awkward silence that followed her timeframe left Sakura curious. "What?" She questioned, "Why do you all look so solemn? Fractured ribs aren't that big a deal. Just be thankful that it wasn't more than that." Sakura's gaze glanced around the room, at half the citizens lying down on their mats, either unable to move or unconscious.
"Ah, you're right, Mom," Sarada smiled, the smile not quite reaching her eyes, "We are definitely glad that our friend here wasn't more hurt than she could've been. Thank you for looking after her."
"It's okay, Sakura-Chan," Victoria mumbled, feeling incredibly sleepy all of a sudden. "Nobody can really do things for ribs. Ya just gotta suck it up. Heh. Except not too deeply. Then they'll hurt. When, ya know, you do the breathing thing. Besides, I'm strong. I can do the broken thing, no problem." She blinked a little. "Huh. Was it you that made me so sleepy? Sam. I need to go to bed, I think. And the pain pills, pretty please."
Sam smiled sympathetically at Victoria, "I think that's a good idea." She looked at Sarada expectantly while Sakura went to grab the necessary pain pills for Victoria. But, to their surprise, it was Himawari who spoke up on their behalf.
"You two can stay with me and Boruto. My mom'll be there too! She'll be super happy to have you there!"
Samantha's eyes bugged out a little, "You mean… Hinata? We'll get to meet Hinata?"
"Yup!" Himawari replied, enthusiastically.
"We saw Sasuke once," Victoria announced to the group in general. "He was buying socks." She yawned very widely. Boruto casually made his way over to the group, waving goodbye to the continuous flow of villagers who wanted to say hello to their newfound hero. He raised an eyebrow at Tori's ramblings.
"You met Sauske-San?" he asked, but Tori didn't seem to hear and just kept rambling.
"Naruto, he likes ramen. Rock Lee - now that kid's pretty cool. Weird hair though." Another yawn interrupted her musings. "But Ten-Ten's the best. Cuz the buns, ya know. Whatever happened to that girl?"
"Well, why don't you ask her yourself?" Boruto interrupted, jerking a thumb over one shoulder back towards the rest of the temporary village. "Rock Lee, too. They're both here. You could say hi if you wanted."
"Really?" Samantha asked, her brows raising. Wouldn't that be weird to meet them in the future when they're older and less angsty. "Are you sure that'd be okay to say hi? I mean… what if they remember us?"
"I highly doubt that they'd remember you." Boruto shrugged. "It's been, what? More than fifteen years since they saw you?" Sarada and Himawari glanced at each other then looked back at Boruto. Sarada sighed, shrugging.
"We can't really stop you from saying hi if you see them," Sarada said, "But Boruto's right. They probably don't remember you so just don't feel too sad if they don't recognize you at all, but honestly, it's probably best to avoid that situation all together."
"I think we can handle that!" Sam declared.
The conversation was momentarily paused as Sakura returned with the pain medication and gave the dosage instructions to Sam, since Tori seemed to be steadily growing more and more out of it. Tor borrowed Sam as a helpful crutch as they made their way outside again. As soon as they were out of Sakura's hearing though, the blond leader of the group was quick to add some contingencies to the Sam and Tori Reunion Tour.
"Just! Don't go talkin' to Shikadai's dad." Boruto jumped in quickly as they all made their way out of the makeshift hospital, "That man is way too perceptive for his own good, ya know," he muttered.
"Shhh...shhhh..Shhhhhikamaru," Victoria whispered. "Can't tell Shikamaru."
"Uh, We'll do our best." Samantha replied, unsure what she would do if she actually did see Rock Lee or Tenten. Would they remember them? It had been an awful long time since. I wonder if we'd meet Metal Lee, too. And… does Tenten even have a kid? Or is Metal Lee hers? Samantha giggled to herself at the thought. It was too bizarre to even consider, since Tenten was always grossed out by how overenthusiastic Rock Lee and Might Guy were. Sam turned her head to see Victoria's face, "What if we ended up seeing Might Guy? There's no way that he wouldn't remember us. After all… he was already in his twenties when he met us."
"He'd be so jealous now of our youthfulness," Victoria quipped. "Time travel is the best skin cream of all. Do you think he uses skin cream? I bet he does.. Hey, if we see him, we should totally pay him back for the ramen. And the barbeque. Man, we owe a lot of ninjas food money, don't we? Boruto's fault he didn't give us any money though, so really he kinda owes them, right? We could tell Jiraiya that. Send all the bills to Boruto, Twelfth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf."
Ahead of them, the sharp-eared shinobis exchanged glances. Boruto turned back, looking horrified. "She's..she's kidding, right?" he asked warily. "I'm not gonna be stuck being the Hokage am I?"
Samantha snorted, "Aren't you supposed to be the one who can see the future?" She laughed a little at his fright. Behind her red glasses, Sarada's eyes narrowed as well, she was obviously not anymore pleased by the assumed prophecy than her blond counterpart. "Boruto would be a horrible Hokage," she said dispassionately. "He's the second least-suited shinobi I know."
"Don't worry, Sarada, you've got nothing to fear - er, that I know of. Eh-heh." Samantha laughed, sheepishly. After all, they couldn't actually see the future. Victoria was simply delirious from whatever medicine Sakura had her on.
"Kakashi has to be Hokage," Victoria said somewhat mournfully. "Has to help keep the village safe. No time for girlfriends. Not that he'd pick me, but it's so sad he's all alone." She turned her head the other way to where Himawari walked. "Isn't it so sad? He's so hot but won't ever have any babies. Those genes will die with him." Victoria sniffled. "I don't want Kakashi to die. He has such nice genes. And heart. Like, maybe he's a bad guy to other ninja but his heart is for friends."
Samantha raised her eyebrows, unable to help an amused smile from appearing on her face. "I think we need to get you some rest, good friend. Come along!" She spoke with an attempted British accent (as per the usual slip the two friends fell into on more than one occasion) heading the way after Himawari.
"Kakashi Ojii-san was the Hokage, that's true." Boruto came to walk next to them, "And we have reason to believe that he's just as alive as my father. When it comes to him, ah, spreading his genes," a small flurry of red graced Boruto's cheeks, "You'd have to ask him about that."
Victoria sighed a sigh of a thousand laments. "Ya know, Naruto2, I have a super power - a jutsu - of my own. I can make anyone get married just by getting a crush on them. And for whatever reason, it doesn't work on him. He didn't get married. I think it must be broken here. Or I'm broken here.." She gestured at the crumbling buildings all around them. "Everyone's broken here. Even the scenery. We should probably fix that."
Samantha gave a slight apologetic look to her dear friend, unable to help the smile that was trying to creep its way onto her face. "You know, Tor, your filters are being more generous tonight. We should probably fix that to avoid future regrets. Sleep. Sleep will be good for you. Himawari, are we, uh, heading to your house now?"
"Yup! Don't worry, my mom will be totally fine with you staying over, too. She's the coolest, sweetest mom you'll ever meet!" Himawari had turned around to brag about Hinata, walking backwards with her hands clasped behind her back. Himawari's long, so black it looked blue hair (which is probably why Hinata's hair looked so blue too, come to think of it) flowed out around her, the wind catching tufts and sending it flurrying about.
"Are my filters down?" Victoria, becoming frighteningly sleepy as time went on, asked with a faint frown. "Then people will know what I am really thinking. That's no good. I might say something embarrassing. Or mean. Sam, did I say anything mean? Quick: you must be my conscience! Or gag me. That might be easier."
"I won't be gagging you," Sam snorted, "But don't worry. You didn't say anything mean. Maybe embarrassing but… no worries! We'll get through this together!" She patted Victoria on the back, sending her sympathies as best she could. Poor Tor couldn't help speaking her mind when she was too tired to hold back and while it didn't mean anything in Samantha's company, having other's hear her say something potentially embarrassing wasn't something Sam would wish on her. Ever. Tori was too good of a person for that. So Sam prayed they would make it to the Uzumaki residence soon.
The group had whittled down to four after Mitsuki left. Sam's shoulder was aching under the barely-conscious Victoria, but then they finally came in sight of a building she instantly recognized from the anime. It was a round, little two story house with a wide roof ringing the first floor - Perfect for sitting on to watch the sunset or daydream the day away, Sam couldn't help thinking to herself. As they closed the short distance, she noticed other small details like the scattered flower pots on the front porch and the cheery curtains inside the front-facing windows. Dang… how is it that Kishimoto was able to get details so similar? Is this what you'd call premonition? Visions? Sam thought wryly as they came even with the gap in the fence that opened to the Uzumaki yard.
Tori seemed to miss the fact that they were turning because she kept trying to go straight for a moment and nearly knocked Sam right over. "Tor. Tori!" Sam laughed. "We're turning," she emphasized. But after straightening the two of them out, Sam was only too glad to let Himawari take over as crutch for the half-asleep Tori. She gave a long stretch to ease the ache in her back before noticing that Boruto seemed weirdly reluctant to head to the porch as Himawari and Victoria were. Walking over to where he lurked, Sam turned her head curiously to see what the blond teenager was staring at. "So! Whatcha looking… at." Her question tapered off as she followed the direction Boruto's eyes were looking. The entire north side of the house was gone. Where the little kitchen should have been with its little living room where the Uzumaki family met so often: it was nothing but shattered plaster and scattered lengths of blasted wood. A thick curtain of plastic sheeting had been stretched from one side to the other and nailed in place: at least keeping out the weather even if it left the family's home open to every curious eye. It was like a life-size dollhouse. Through the thick, kinda blurry plastic, they could both see Hinata rise from the salvaged kitchen table - presumably at the sound of the door opening - and then she and a candle disappeared out of sight into the hall.
"Oh," was all Samantha could manage to say. What more was there that she could say? "That sucks."
"Yeah," was Boruto's response. They stood there staring a while longer before he stuffed his hands in his pockets and continued forward. Sam followed after, contemplating what it must have been like to watch the whole village be destroyed. Picking his way through the scattered timber, he finally reached down and pulled out a long metal prybar. "It's gonna take a lot," he said, just as slowly making his way over to the side of the house that was really messed up still: pieces of their fence were literally impaled into some of the walls and half the roof was sticking up like a hillbilly's teeth. "Rebuilding. Like...a lot a lot. I'm not sure how well Konoha will fare until then."
Sam eyed the blonde teen, having to look up at his face. Boruto, with the ease of much practice, hooked his prybar around one of the fence-posts that was stabbing into the house. A few solid yanks and the post pulled free with a shudder. Boruto picked up the post and dispassionately threw it in the vague direction of the other piled posts scattered across the grass. "So. You're right. It kinda sucks, ya know. Knowing that we've got all this awful stuff to deal with: my dad missing, the city messed up, and we don't even know for sure where Kawaki went."
"That sounds super stressful," Sam acknowledged, unsure with where Boruto was heading with the conversation. He seemed to have something more on his mind, and Sam knew, due to experience, that it was good to wait it out. He'd say what he wanted eventually. Make small, confirming noises to let him know she was listening - a phrase here and there - and voila! Eventual thought spillage.
"Yeah. It is." Boruto hooked the prybar into a new post and gave a hard yank, and then immediately winced. His left hand suddenly shot out grab at his opposing shoulder. The bar swung free and then hit the ground with a sullen clump. He sighed a little as he bent down to pick it back up. Sam remembered how he had been favoring his right side earlier in the hospital and wondered what might have injured him- but also why he wouldn't just get it healed. "Anyways... You and the other lady. You could really help us out..."
Sam's brow furrowed minutely, taking in the serious tone Boruto had suddenly taken. She folded her arms, standing wide, feeling her stomach twist with senseless amount of butterflies. "Help out, how?"
He rubbed nervously at the back of his neck, avoiding her gaze for the moment. But when he did look up, Sam was pinned by the bright blue of Boruto's eyes. Huh, Sarada might be right. They are even bluer than Naruto's. He stepped forward suddenly too, the intensity of his earnest words reaching out to try to wrap around her. Talk-no-jutsu, Activate! She joked to herself, but Sam couldn't help being drawn by it anyways.
"You see, Samantha-Chan, you might be the only one who can really help. I...I know something about what is coming next. And it can't happen, but I can't tell the others about it either. So, I need to ask you to do something when you go back into the past. But you have to promise me, first. Promise me you'll keep what I say to you secret."
Sam blinked. Uh oh, something he can't even tell his comrades? She deliberated on what to do, wondering if it would be right to keep something so serious to herself. But Boruto's eyes were so earnest and desperate. Yeah, he definitely looks desperate.
Sam came to her decision.
"Alright. I promise."
Omake:
Dear Readers. The following section is meant to explain why it took so flipping long for us to update. Please consider both sides and then correctly assign all the blame on Boruto. It's the right thing to do.
M = MangaGeek3
R = RoyalVicTorie
One beautiful day in November, a conversation begins in regards to RoyalVicTorie's viewing habits. For, she had recently completed season five of the original series, but had not yet started Shippuden.
M:why are you wasting time watching those episodes? After Sasuke leaves you're supposed to skip to Shippuden!
R: But I'm learning all these important things about the world.
M: But they're not canon! So they're not really a part of the world, so you should just skip them. Except the Kakashi arc, that's the only one that's canon. You need to go to Shippuden!
R: But then it'd be out of order cuz I'd have to go back and watch them later.
M: (becoming very passionate) No! 'Cause the fillers aren't real and they aren't important! They're not canon! And it's going to take you forever to get through all of them! You don't need to watch them.
R: But it's more Naruto! Why would you want to have less Naruto?
M: You don't want more Naruto you want more Kakashi! Besides you need to hurry up so we can write the next thing and that means you have to finish the main episodes of Shippuden so I can finally tell you the big spoilers. Gah! Tori! We don't have time for you to watch the fillers!
R: I like the fillers!
M: No!
R: They are a part of the world!
M: No! They aren't! They aren't in the manga!
R: Well I'm not going off the manga; I'm going off the show! For once I'm choosing the movie over the book! And I'm gonna watch all the episodes, even in Shippuden!
M: No! You can't do that!
R: Well you can't stop me. Your dvds are at my house.
M: Well I'll come get them back! And I'll change my password on Crunchyroll!
R: Well I'll just make my own account!
M: Then you'll have to pay $7 a month!
R: This would be a funny conversation for a behind the scenes..
M: Don't change the subject!
Three days later...
R: ..And then little Hinata just passed out, it was adorable. I just love watching how lil and cute they are all and like knowing that none of them can die.
M: But you have so much to go still. And I can't write the chapter until you do 'cause there's such big spoilers if you haven't watched Shippuden.
R: But we have to know the fillers cuz that's where our story exists is between the fillers!
M: No 'cause we are a filler so we don't have to pay attention to those other ones 'cause they aren't really in the world.
R: But I'm learning so much!
M: But you're not! The fillers aren't real. It makes me so sad it's like you're going off the deep end: the Naruto-verse deep end.
R: (annoying Sasuke voice) But I wanna go off the deep end and live with Orochimaru. I'm leaving the village and you can't stop me, Naruto.
M: That's it friendship over.
R: Hey! That's not how it went!
M: How would you know? You're still watching the fillers!
R: Oh dang.
10 minutes later
R: Give me time.
M: Do you have any idea how long it took me to watch all of Naruto? Just straight binge watching just the CANON episodes!? An entire week! Of nothing but binge watching!
R: You underestimate my watching abilities.
M: *deadpan* You work.
R: Oh. Right. Heh heh
Another week later
R: You were right… watching the fillers… is like watching Pokemon. I… I need to watch the actual fight scenes where there is some real possibility of consequences! The fillers..they were cute but now they're just boring cuz I know no one's gonna die. Plus, where's the Kakashi? Nowhere.
M: *smirks* hah! Told you so.
See? It was definitely Boruto's fault because his world had so many spoilers. In case you want to know, RoyalVicTorie has not finished Shippuden yet, but at least she is trusting me now when I tell her to skip an arc or two. And, yes, she loved the Kakashi arc. It was kind of ridiculous how much she loved the Kakashi arc. Honestly, she should probably be a little embarrassed.
Also, this whole thing just now was written by her once again pretending to be MangaGeek3. She really is a cheeky monkey.